Cleaning Up The Mess February 24, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations, Personal Freedom , 1 comment so farFrom a spiritual perspective, when the interval between cause and effect narrows, things are generally easier to manage right across the board. When it widens, trouble is immanent. The interval between cause and effect can be measured by the amount of mess left behind. In other words, when you make a decision about anything in life, you will experience certain consequences as a result of making that decision.
It could have something to do with your next career move, or the step you make towards consolidating your relationship. It might be the decision you make to leave town in search of a new challenging life experience! Regardless, some of the consequences of making decisions are perhaps not always what you may have expected. And indeed, here and there, you are inevitably left with nothing but a huge mess to clean up.
If for whatever reason your decisions are based on emotion, there will be a mess to clean up! Nothing could be more certain. When angry, your Liver energy will be uprooted and in a volatile state, you will make decisions that are unstable. When sentimental, your Heart energy will become scattered and in a frenzy, you will make decisions that are chaotic. When worried, your Spleen energy will become decimated and in depletion, you will make decisions that reflect your neediness. When sad, your Lung energy will become stale and you will make decisions based on what it feels like to drown in an ocean of despair. When fearful, your Kidney energy will be exhausted and you will make decisions based on desperation.
None of these responses is appropriate. They will all lead to the disintegration of your personal energy fields and disempowerment.
If you signed up for the job because it would pay you better than the gig you really had a passion for, you will not be able escape the gnawing feeling that you sold your soul. This feeling will eat away at you until you lose your marbles or you dump your dissatisfaction on the wrong person at the wrong time and wind up paying a high price for your frustration. At the end of the day, the infamous Doctor Faustus thought he could make a deal with Lucifer and paid the ultimate price. You don’t want to end up like him. The moral of the story at any rate is that when you do something without love it will always backfire and you will have to pay the price for it.
Similarly, if you constantly pick up the broken pieces of your daughter’s life and try to fix things for her, she will be the one to miss out in the long run and her growing ineptitude will be the mess you have to clean up. Why? Because you taught her to be like that. If you want to help a youngster you have no choice but to show them what it means to stand on their own two feet, to be loving and compassionate, and to be confident in finding solutions for their own problems – with support and guidance when necessary. A failure to do this will reflect poorly on you. So, do you intend to bring up a child for life? Or did you intend to raise a real human being? If you were brought up to be needy, it is likely you will project this onto your own kids. If you were raised to develop independence, compassion and initiative, you will probably enjoy watching the same qualities flourish in those that follow after you.
We all have our messes. It helps if you know what they are specifically. Be honest and impartial when investigating them. Start with finding out where you stand in relation to your career. What about your personal relationship? Then move onto your family. Are your financial affairs in order? If not why not? It doesn’t mean that you have to be held to a budget’s ransom but you do need to know what comes in and what goes out and if you are serving your purpose. If you’re not healthy, when will you get your act together? Are your friends the kind of people that are suitable associates for your ongoing development? Do you make time for stillness? If not, how are you going to slow down long enough to assess what your requirements are?
As you can see, cleaning up messes is a process. It is a working, moving meditation. It never ends. But it does need to begin sometime. If you are serious about reducing the interval between cause and effect, the time has come for you to answer the big questions. They are not difficult to answer but they do need to be approached. Otherwise, you will get stuck and never seem to get off the roundabout!
Video – Your Mind Your Medicine February 20, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Live Face-to-Face Seminars 2008 with Geoffrey Wilson, Philosophy, Psychology , add a commentYour Mind Your Medicine
Letting Go February 16, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Health Tips, Meditations , add a commentLetting go is a term we often hear with the frequency of a catchphrase used to convey a sense of something important. It is officially part of our language now and is not restricted to the mumbo jumbo of professionals who might refer to it as if it were a body part.
Letting go is actually a process. It is not a thing. Nor is it an achievement. You don’t become something else when you let go but rather you engage in a process of shedding your proverbial skin. Of course, the skin is on the outside of your body and letting go also pertains to the inside.
We tend to cling to our experiences, both the pleasurable and painful ones, and as such, we also develop memories which are stored in the muscles, in the bones, in the ligaments, in the joints, in the tendons, in the organs, as well as in the mind. Unfortunately, it is the memories, pleasurable or painful, which are then used to deal with the challenges we face in the present – and memories are never equipped to deal with the reality of now!
The past cannot really be used to deal efficiently with the present because ‘now’ is different to ‘then’. They may look the same, but they are different. In fact, the current challenge, the problem that we face right now, comes with a unique set of circumstances. We have never faced this set of circumstances before. We may think we have, but we haven’t. A closer inspection will reveal the truth of this.
Unless we can approach the problem with a clean sheet, as it were, free from the memories of what we did last time to solve the problem, the solution will be in adequate. So all we can do is surrender to the fact that an empty mind, free from the burden of expectation, free from the accumulation of memory, free from the pressure imposed by the past, is relaxed and as such, is free from the constraints of any kind.
According to the principles of Oriental medicine, the Colon channel shares a dynamic relationship with the Lung channel. The Colon takes care of the rubbish while the Lung takes care of nourishment. Our task then is to unravel the mystery surrounding this relationship and expose the pearls of wisdom that lie therein.
Letting go is a process. It means that you will have to make some adjustments to the way you think and behave. Not just on Sundays, but from moment-to-moment. Not just when it suits, but as a lifestyle. Not just because you are in pain, but because living is from moment-to-moment.
The adjustments you will need to make are a blend of physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual modifications that regulate lifestyle and the way you think about the world, the people in the world, and the things that are happening in the world.
Physical adjustments are usually such things as exercises designed to enable you to release tension and relax on a deeper level. Tai Chi is renowned for this. So too is Qi Gong. Both share a common set of principles and structure that facilitate release, relaxation, and then lead to softness. The good news is that you don’t need to use your mind. Your mind has to empty before you can relax.
Emotional adjustments are usually such things as forming new habits (more appropriately called responses) that require you to avoid indulging in reactions to situations. For example, rather than buy into someone’s predicament, you listen but don’t jump straight in and try to be the hero (like rescuing someone from their fate).
Avoiding the indulgence is one thing. Not taking things personally is another. It requires much practice to conquer this one and you will need to be very disciplined. This is where hanging out with the right people helps. In the same way a business mentor supervises the new kid on the block, you might benefit from a mentor who can help to keep you on track.
Mental adjustments are probably the trickiest. This requires a brand new way of thinking about life, love, the Universe and so on. The first thing to do is learn to distinguish between facts and fantasy. A fact is the actual – what is actually happening. Fantasy is a non-fact. Fantasy is what you would like something to be. Therefore fantasy is the ideal. Fact and fantasy are polar opposites. One begins when the other ends.
The second thing to do when making mental adjustments, is stick to the facts. Do not waiver. This means you avoid getting caught up in the habit of thinking about wishes, wants, hopes, and dreams. If you stay clear of fantasy, reality is like a balm to a weary soul. With practice, you begin to rest in the arms of reality quite comfortably – not numb, but aware, awake and alive!
Spiritual adjustments are none other than deferring to spirit always. In other words, give the credit to spirit. Drop the ego. Find out if you can discover the truth about humility. If you can, you will uncover a secret that few will have a real opportunity to explore. Letting go is part of the equation.
Oriental Psychology Seminars 2009 February 10, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Announcements, Courses, Live Face-to-Face Seminars 2008 with Geoffrey Wilson, Psychology , add a commentWe’ve got 10 seminars coming up this year on the key topics related to Oriental Psychology.
These include workshops on the marvelous protocols associated with the ‘Firing Process’, the spiritual destinies associated with the ‘I-Ching’, Taoist Spiritual Practices including chants and special exercises, the Metaphysics of Zang Fu Diagnosis, deciphering the classics – Art of War, Chuang Tzu, and Huainanzi, and of course extensive investigations of the 5 Spirits – ethereal soul, heart mind, intellect, the stone soul, and the willpower – with extensive case histories and corresponding commentaries.
Click here to view a preview of the Oriental Psychology DVD Your Mind Your Medicine
For detailed seminar information click here
The Stone Soul February 9, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations , add a commentFeelings and the Stone Soul
According to Lorie Eve Dechar, ‘Metal is associated with the colour white, the emotion of grief, the season of autumn. It is associated with death, the ending of cycles, the coming and going of life, the rhythms of the breath and the excretory functions.’
The Hun (Ethereal Soul) is to the psyche (the human mind, imagination, dreaming) what the Po is to the soma (the human body, senses, emotions, unconscious physiological responses). Both are melting pots of awareness, with the soma acting as a complement to the psyche – the physical component of consciousness.
Psychologically, the Po is the realm of the ‘body unconscious’ with its storehouse of sensations, emotions, passions, and feelings that represent the neurological intelligence of human beings. In this storehouse are to be found the characteristics of identity, often completely hidden from the eye of conscious awareness, in tissue memory, the muscles, fascia, nerves, and organs of the body.
The Po is stored in the lungs. In other words, this is where the memory of feelings resides. When the lungs are damaged through an inability to let go of resistance to change on any level, the Po suffers a blow. Suppose you have a falling out with your loved one because you perceive that she has rejected you for one reason or another. You react to this by shutting down. You stew on it and cling to it in order to justify your feelings of rejection.
It should come as no surprise then that you begin to develop signs and symptoms linked to the respiratory system. In fact, the origin of all respiratory malfunctions can be traced back to this drama experienced in the house of the Po. The message is clear.
Release.
Let go.
Take a deep breath.
Release.
Let it go.
Take another deep breath.
Breathing is your passport to respiratory harmony. Learn to not cling to people and things and you will enjoy your experience of life more readily. Besides, it’s easy to take a deep breath. All you have to do is trust in your ability to be present.
This is the root of meditation.
On ‘Wu Wei’ February 2, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations , 1 comment so farThose familiar with the lingo often associate Taoism with the ‘Way’. This alludes to an approach rather than a method and suggests something of flow. Unfortunately, the very moment a foreign concept is introduced many of us are inclined to rigidly define it, hold on to it, adhere to it like glue, and cling to it.
Before too long, we’ve outlived the moment and thereafter we enter the arena of dogma. However, in the same way meditation can help us to see with greater clarity, contemplation of ‘Wu Wei’ in everything we do can mean the difference between doing it easy and doing it tough!
‘Wu Wei’ means non-interference. It is a concept that is central to the practice of Taoism in daily life and implies among other things, letting things run their natural course. Going with the flow therefore has nothing to do with manipulating outcomes. Nor does it have anything to do with going to sleep while waiting for something to fall out of the sky.
‘Wu Wei’ is an approach to living that is alive and sensitive. When you are aware, awake, and responsive to the challenges of the moment, you do things very differently. You are not rushed. You are not cramped for space – if only in your own head! You are not seduced by anyone or anything. Responsible for everything that happens to you because you are awake, you stop complaining about people and the weather.
Non-interference means not getting in the way and not using force to achieve a desired result. Force is your insistence on doing it your way. But force is aggression. And force is also resistance. All of these things contradict and flow counter to the natural course of events. When we use force, we swim against the tide.
So, the question is where are you in all of this?