Self-Mastery – Diving Into The Eye Of The Storm (Part 2)

Creating and cultivating your inner awareness is an on-going process in life, and it allows you to feel stable, whole and content towards a specific situation or result.  It is the process of clearing your mind (“turning down the static”) and creating a peaceful, non-judgmental, still area within you, like the eye of the storm.  Then you start the questioning process on your thoughts, feelings, and reactions to a situation or result:

• “How am I feeling right now?”
• “What am I focusing on right now?”
• “What do I really want?”
• “What kind of thoughts and beliefs do I have that are responsible for this kind of result?"

Asking those questions will allow your inner awareness to notice those feelings and reactions, observe what caused them, and accept the fact that this is your reality right now.  It will stop you from rationalizing or creating excuses, and not waste your energy on decisions based on past, untrue beliefs or on an event that may not even happen.  Moreover, it will help you focus on the “now”, to function in the present moment … what is, is.  In the present moment, you become true to yourself, you begin to trust insights received from yourself, and you become aligned to the truth.  That’s powerful stuff.

Cultivating your inner awareness will allow you to know who you are, what you are capable of, what challenges you are up against and how to solve them.  You will come to understand that you create your own reality.  And you will boldly acknowledge that you are responsible for whatever happens to you.  There is no “blame” game or the “I’m the victim” game.

As you view your strengths and your limitations, and acknowledge them for what they are, you will help cultivate your inner awareness.  As you realize that feeling guilt, shame, embarrassment or resentment prevents your personal growth, it will only help to further cultivate your inner awareness.

When you are determined to change the way you look at things, you are cultivating your inner awareness.  You observe your thoughts and actions, and the results they create. You observe, for example, your own reactions to the way people treat you, and decide to change the attitudes and actions that elicited your negative reactions, rather than criticize the person who treated you disrespectfully.

You have the power to determine what to “call” the situation.  If you are calling the situation as “bad”, you are in essence rejecting the reality in front of you and brushing it off as a “bad” or negative experience.  Such an act will increase the suffering, prolong that negative experience, and needlessly drain your energy.  Channeling your energy on the “bad” experience only creates more of it.  However, if you find the “good” in that situation, your energy shifts to what you want, not on what you don’t want or don’t have or might/should have.  It gives you the ability to look at the present and see it as good.  You focus your energy not on the past or “what will”, but “what is”.  There is no waste of energy, just your laser focused energy on the present moment.  The positive reality that you create, will in turn, empower you.

Remember, the universe works by laws, not by chance or luck, and every situation that looks “bad” also has the “good” in equal proportion – but you have to look for it.  Create, cultivate and trust your inner awareness.

To receive inner guidance is to trust in yourself, and to be open to the incredible and infinite possibilities life has to offer, and to claim your birthright as an individual with full, total power and limitless potential.

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Self-Mastery – Diving Into The Eye Of The Storm (Part 1)

In order to mold your potential into form and achieve success, you need energy. However, your energy level, unfortunately, does not come from an infinite source. You need to be able to preserve your reservoir of energy so that you can channel it at the opportune time to achieve success. How? Through Self-Mastery.

If your thoughts and emotions are not in sync, then the reality you are currently experiencing (i.e., reacting to) will cause strife and drain your energy levels. You want to avoid that, and always strive to be on your “A-Game”. You do this by turning within, and aligning your thoughts and emotions to create a grounded, more positive reality. Cultivating an inner reflection, an inner observance, as Jonathan Budd pointed out, is the true battle of success.

The ability to observe one’s self, to look at what is going on inside, is a common trait that the warrior, those individuals who never give up in the battle of success, has. These individuals are cognizant of the fact that thoughts, emotions and behaviors are all forms of energy, and when you think, feel or perform an action, you are using energy. We usually are not aware of how we spend our energy, or how our thoughts, emotions and reactions to an event can affect our energy level. On the other hand, warriors are very sensitive to such factors, and are keenly aware that physically, we are finite beings with finite levels of energy, and thus, are careful on how they expend their energy. They cultivate an inner awareness to the event or situation, and through this process, they create more energy for themselves.

The results you are experiencing in various aspects of your life are a reflection of your inner awareness. Having a very low to no inner awareness means, bluntly, that that you are clueless of your actions and how it affects you and the outside world. It may be the cause of your difficulties in your life, and you need to become aware of what it is. When you are in a state of low to no inner awareness, you may, for example, ingest harmful substances into your body and mind, and thus, experience physical health problems and sabotage your ability to succeed. Likewise, negative beliefs, thoughts and attitudes pollute your mind and prevent you from achieving what you want. It would be impossible to change anything in your life unless you become aware of what is causing the non-productive, negative consequence (e.g., anger, worry, etc.).

When you realize what problems you actually create for yourself, you need to take action and make the necessary changes. In other words, cultivating your inner awareness will prevent potential, needless struggles in your life and increase your ability to improve your life. It will help you preserve and increase your energy level, and better position yourself to success.

So what is this inner awareness?

Inner awareness is simply, understanding why you do what you do.

Next time, I will discuss how to grow and cultivate your inner awareness.

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Personal Power

"Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.”

I love that quote. It is a quote from Wilma Rudolph, an athlete who was considered the fastest woman in the world in the 1960s, and who competed in the 1956 and 1960 Olympics. And more importantly, regarded as a civil rights and women's rights pioneer.

She saw that we humans, beings of this planet earth, had this “element” called potential that was already within us and gave us the power to do whatever we want to do in life.

She had that warrior mindset, and focused her energy into becoming the fastest woman in the world, and on to becoming a famous advocate for civil rights and women’s rights. She molded her potential into form. How? By practicing technique, by practicing good eating habits, by practicing proper strength exercises … and so on. And more importantly, she had the energy to mold that potential into form.

Similar to Wilma Rudolph’s endeavors, we need to focus our energy and mold our potential to create success. How? Take action and practice, practice, practice what you want to do in form.

And the key is energy. Wilma Rudolph had that energy to mold her potential to create a successful athletic career and become a famous advocate for civil rights and women’s rights. She knew how to conserve her energy so that she can focus on her goal and attain that high level of success.

Likewise, warriors know how to conserve their energy, which in turn creates tremendous personal power.

The way you live your life provides varying degrees of energy. If you argue all the time, worry a lot, get road rage often … those are just energy drainers. By day’s end, you’re tired as tired can be, and you probably won’t have the energy to focus on your success action plans. Rather than waste and squander that precious energy, find activities that empower you to create more energy, not deplete it.

Success is correlated to the path of the warrior.

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The Wisp of the Gekka-Bijin

Gekka what?!?  And, no, I am not referring to some title of a cool Japanese anime.  It’s what the Japanese call the night blooming cereus (cactus).  Here in America, it is called the “Queen of the Night” and the Japanese call it Gekka-Bijin, or the “Beautiful Lady Under the Moon” (Gekka means below or under the moon, and Bijin means beautiful lady).

This cactus plant is native to the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Desert in North America.  They bloom in the summer evening, just once or twice a year.

As usual, my wife was the one who educated me about this plant, and explained the urgency of seeing it.  Like I mentioned in my previous posts, she is the cultured one.  Anyways, now I understand her excitement about these cactus plants.  It is apparently big news in Japan since the Gekka-Bijin blooms every summer in Japan as well.  It must be the intrigue of its origin or that you have a very small window to see it fully bloomed.  And the Japanese people have great empathy for fragile beauty, as they have given this plant the name Gekka-Bijin, which evokes the image of a beautiful woman seen by moonlight, or gazing at the moon.

Well, surprise!  We have the Gekka-Bijin right here in Hawaii, and now I truly understand my wife’s excitement and sense of urgency.  It is that time of the year when it blooms, and if we miss it … oh well, need to wait till next year.  So we drove down to a private school called Punahou School, and along one end of Wilder Avenue the so-called cactus plant covered the school’s wall.  There were lots of them … but they had already bloomed and closed up for the next year.  We frantically walked along the wall, hunting for a fully bloomed Gekka-Bijin but there was none in sight.  Then, finally, we saw a bunch of buds ready to be bloomed … but not tonight.  We compared the buds among the cactus plants by observing and touching them.  We noticed that some were still compact in size and hard, however, there were a good number of them that were more plump and softer – those will be blooming soon, but not tonight.

We went home that night, a little disappointed, however, excited that we still had an opportunity to see it in full bloom.  Okay, I said “we” … and yes, I was excited since I never knew about the Gekka-Bijin, and I wanted to see how beautiful it was fully bloomed.

We waited a few more nights, and voila … we saw it!  My wife was right … it was a beautiful flower … and to think it came from a cactus plant!

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Reflecting on what we did and saw a few weeks ago, I realized how well it related to the mindset of a successful person.

• The unattractive, prickly cactus and the Gekka-Bijin.
  Success will take time and effort on your part … no one is going to help you "bloom" into an overnight success! Maybe your current situation needs improvement. Don't give up! Persistence and consistency is key.
   
• The buds of the cactus.
  Similarly to how we “researched” the difference between the buds of the cactus plant and devised a plan for our next visit, we must also do the same for our own successes. Remember the saying, "If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail"?


• The small window of opportunity to see the Gekka-Bijin.
  “You snooze you lose”.  You’ve heard that saying before, right?  So if you don’t do anything about it, you will miss the opportunity to see the fully bloomed Gekka-Bijin.  Same goes with your opportunities for success. Seize the moment!

With proper research, planning, patience, focus, and implementation, you can position yourself for success.

P.S. It’s already September, however, if you’re in Honolulu, there’s still a chance to get a glimpse of the fully bloomed Gekka-Bijin along the walls of Punahou school.  And … if you plan to visit Honolulu in the near future during August through September, don’t forget to get a glimpse of the elusive Gekka-Bijin.

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Value -- Part 3

During our stay in Seattle, we visited several casinos just for fun … up north called “Angel of the Winds” and down south called “Muckleshoot”. We’re not high rollers expecting to win (or lose) big money … we ventured in out of curiosity. It was fun playing the penny and nickel slots. I guess I was lucky since I won $20! And, what made it really worthwhile was the free drinks from the soda dispenser … what a great idea and service to the customers! Would I go back to the two casinos if I visited Seattle again? Sure, you bet (no pun intended, of course)!

Reflecting back on the trip and what we enjoyed, I realized that there was a lot of value ingrained in the services we received, the products we purchased, as well as in the hotel rooms and accommodations, and places we visited. It just made you feel special, and more importantly, gave you that “Yeah, I don’t mind trying this again” kind of feeling.

In life, it's the same story … same concept. If you provide value, good things will happen to you. "Value" can be in the form of support, your time, your money, instructions, whatever it is that will edify others.

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