By Lorna Richard
Guest Writer for Wake Up World

Our world is showing us our inability to see the truth. The self-help phenomenon has created a kind of spiritual degradation. The ‘New Age’ movement brings deep wounds when spiritual teachers are blind to the truth. With the blind leading the blind it will be difficult to restore the gift of sight and true spiritual mastery.

Introducing spiritualism into capitalism has corrupted the spiritual teacher and left the student in spiritual limbo when the student buys into the notion that money is somehow tied into being abundant in life. When money and the accumulation of possessions is seen as abundance this a real problem for bringing truth and making change in our world.

What happens in the psyche of an individual when a spiritual teacher tells them “if you really love yourself you would be abundant and the riches of the world would be yours”. When deep down we know there is something not quite right with the system?

Anna Hunt, Staff Writer
Waking Times

Breathing is one of the body’s fundamental functions, yet most of us give it very little of our attention. We go about our day – taking care of our daily tasks, working, cooking, walking the dog – and unless we over-exert ourselves or choke on a piece of food, we put very little thought towards our breathing. We take it for granted, and, as a result, many of us take short and shallow breaths.

“Short, shallow breathing causes a cascade of negative effects in the body, and the body associates that with the fight-or-flight response. It gins up the adrenaline, the cortisol, the stress chemicals.” ~ Al Lee, co-author (with Don Campbell) of Perfect Breathing

God said:

You may be a very High Being who has habits and mannerisms and ideas that do not reflect you as the High Being you are. This is how it can be said that the beggar at your door could be Christ. Outside phenomenon do not tell you the whole story. This is one very good reason why to be neither persuaded nor dissuaded by looks or by wealth or poverty or by anything at all.

Information may be one thing or another, may be valid or invalid. Appearances may be one thing or another. Good manners or poor manners may vary. We are speaking of your concepts and your percepts and what they mean to you.

The poorest may be the wealthiest. The wealthiest may be the poorest. Where are you looking, and what is it that you look for?

The most ordinary-seeming personage could be extraordinary. The most extraordinary-seeming personage could be a flash in the pan.

The wisest could be the most foolish. The most foolish could be the wisest, as seen in fairy tales where the know-nothing youngest son is the wisest of all and wins the day because he is innocent and truly sees what is before him. And so it is said: “Out of the mouths of babes.”

A most avid reader could be less aware than someone who does not know how to read. Someone who does not know to read may be better able to see for himself.

Yes, be very careful about getting caught up in judgment. Too often judgment – the conclusions judgment comes to – deny you the great favor of expanded awareness.

Achieving mindfulness through meditation has helped people maintain a healthy mind by quelling negative emotions and thoughts, such as desire, anger and anxiety, and encouraging more positive dispositions such as compassion, empathy and forgiveness. Those who have reaped the benefits of mindfulness know that it works. But how exactly does it work?

There is a measurable benefit that people could achieve through body-mind meditation, especially involving an effective training regimen.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) have proposed a new model that shifts how we think about mindfulness. Rather than describing mindfulness as a single dimension of cognition, the researchers demonstrate that mindfulness actually involves a broad framework of complex mechanisms in the brain.

In essence, they have laid out the science behind mindfulness.

Credit: youtube.com

By Wes Annac, Culture of Awareness

I think everyone would benefit from meditation, because it gets us out of the monkey mind and introduces us to the Self and the vibrant spiritual reality so many of us seek without realizing that it’s already a part of us.

It reminds us that life isn’t so bad, despite how much we prefer to think otherwise, and beyond this world’s greed and negativity exist infinite higher dimensions of bliss, harmony and heavenliness unlike anything we’ve felt in our current state of consciousness.

I can only imagine what shape the conscious community would be in if we all learned to meditate, and most ‘spiritual’ people practice some form of meditation that’s unique to them. Music can be a form of meditation, for instance, and so can writing. Any creative act can become a meditation if we clear the mind and open up to our higher consciousness while we do it, and writer’s block encourages us to stop, open the mind back up and regain our presence and centeredness, thus allowing us to approach our work with a fresh perspective.