Working Backwards

Hi folks !


We are creatures of habit and love to live either in the past or the future.

Watch your thoughts at any given moment, even when you are walking on an uneven street.

You will be mulling over what to do about something which is to take place later, or next week or after you retire in 2040.

Or you are angry about what happened some time ago, - could be anywhere between 10 mins ago to a year to ten or an even distant past.


We hate living in the present moment because it passes us by without our knowledge and we do not realise it's importance.


That is the reason we slip on the road or take a wrong turn or overshoot - literally and figuratively.


Each moment of our life carries the burden of past baggage and dreams of a future convinient to us. We hardly seem to live purely in the moment.

This is not a happy situation to be in.

Plus, if one is going to keep the mind full to the brim all the time, with the hurts and anger and sadness or even happy memories of the past, where would be the place for new stuff ?

New memories and joys and lessons learnt - and pride at having learnt ?


I found an answer in a Vipassana course.

My mind would keep going back to past memories of anger, hurt, failure- when I had been unable to say or do anything for a variety of reasons.

It would keep rankling and the meditation would go for a toss i.e. being aware of the pure breath or the physical sensations on the body, nothing beyond.

Vipassana was also, at the same time, making me experience the fact that each and every reaction was a seed sown for the future.

A reaction of happiness would bring fruits of happiness down the line.

One of anger or based on ego would bring a harvest of the same.



Happy thoughts would create a craving for the same and bind me thoroughly to the cycle of life and death.

Aversion to negative thoughts would create equally powerful vibrations and it would be back to the cycle.


So 'Be Equanimous', The Buddha said.


Aaaaaaaah !

But I am, when everything is going my way !


Now for those times when they are not.


When negative memories came up powerfully, I managed to hang on to enough sanity to tell myself that when such a situation arises again in future, I need to be calm.

To not add more fuel to fire.


Time is a continuous flow, it does not come in compartmentalised units, so working backwards to this present moment, if I remain calm now, this seed will give fruit at the right moment in future.


It works every time and everyone can practise it.


When unwanted things happen, what you want doesn't, when the mind seems tired and depressed, take slow, conscious breaths and FEEL your breath coming in and going out.

Think positive. Let go.

Feel the tension draining out of your body and mind.


Practising this when things are fine, on a daily, regular basis helps immensely.

There is an exam or an interview or a meeting- or anything even routine.

Work backwards to this moment and make yourself calm and peaceful.

The connection will remain and you will benifit.

Try it !

Be in the present moment and be happy.

Bye for now !

Our Spiritual Guides And Masters

Hi folks !


This world is a tough place to live in sometimes, and there are many instances when we have felt alone.

Then we pull ourselves together.

Or pop a few pills or talk to a friend or consult a doctor.

Or write a long, detailed diary which may become another mechanical chore or addiction.

Many times, the loneliness remains, and one becomes unhappy.



There is no need, you know!

Each one of us has our own special guide who is always by our side.

Unknown to most of us, because we do not know or do not believe.



Who is this - entity, and why should it go to so much trouble, when it may not even be wanted?!



We will have to go back to one of the earliest blogs and refresh as to what happens to us when we die.


Well !

All that happens is that we leave our physical body and find ourselves very much alive.

No endless sleep, no 'nothing'!

Many people who have truly believed in either find this unsettling and take time to recover.

Those blind on earth(physically) can now see perfectly and the lame and paraplegic can walk and dance and jump.

They were afflictions of the body and with the body gone, so are those pains and afflictions.



Many humans are completely unprepared for this eventuality.

They soon become aware that there is a reception committee awaiting them.

Maybe of one, or two of their dearest relatives or friends who had died some time or many years before.

They have been there for some time and will now take you along with them to a place where you will rest, especially if you have left your body after a long, draining illness.

They are known to you, so the fear factor goes and the wonder remains.

You next meet all your loved ones who have died before, who are available there and who want to meet you.

It is your spiritual guide's responsibility to make sure that you are comfortable. It is she, or he, who helps you assimilate everything.



Next comes a Preview of the life you have just finished, in the company of your guide and maybe another Sr. Guide.

They will watch it with you but not comment, their mere presence being non-judgemental and comforting.

You will take your time over the future course of action.

You could have done so much more here and been less self-occupied there.

Lessons not learnt!

Should you go back right away or mull over, learn in a different dimension and take birth at a later date?

The spirit- guides help you analyse this all- consuming thought, but the final decision is your's alone.


If you decide to stay back, you will remain in touch with your spirit guide and hundreds of others who live on the your plane.



There are certain things one has to understand here.

Very important ones too.

All this loving welcome is for those who deserve it.

Those who have not harmed another when on earth.

If one has killed, raped, looted, tortured-caused pain in any way, the reception is very, very different.

Even if all/either these things had been done in the name of any God or religion or Saint or ideology.

Suicide is an equally big NO.

The subject of suicide actually needs a seperate post.



So!

The spirit guide has welcomed you, you have met your dear ones and now decided to stay on for awhile.

Apart from taking lessons in music or maths, depending on how pure a spirit you are, what can you choose to be?


Why, a spirit guide, of course !

If you have progressed to that level, you can visit those loved ones who are still on earth.

Connect with them in their dreams, try to put sense in them, lift their spirits when they are down.

Have you, at odd, unbidden times, felt a presence near you?

Maybe calm or comforting or -could be any type.

Have a sixth sense which seems to pop up and carry you through?

Depends a lot on the kind of person one is too!



The Spirit Masters are beings who are much more evolved.

They are at higher planes, in more spiritual dimensions.

They are even more calming and reassuring and very, very wise.

They are Old Souls-and beyond.

Check an earlier blog - Soul's 7 Stages.

Having got rid of limiting thoughts and views based on colour, caste, religion etc. they can perceive the oneness in the whole universe.

They take birth too, and try to bring about a change in consciousness.



Each one of us is a Spiritual Being in a human body.



All of us are potential Guides and Masters!



What does one do now? I mean right now?!



Respect yourself. Love yourself.

Control your mind. Take care of your body.


Take a deep breath and say I am a Spiritual Being and I love myself.


Bye for now!

Love you all!