SWITCH # 5

O N E N E S S

The secret is to feel one with something and in fact with everything. This is what you always wanting to do. If you become one with chocolate you are happy. If some tongue tickling lunch become one with you then you are content. While clothes, sweets, cosmetics can literally become one with you, there are a few other things, where you can only FEEL the oneness.

You can never become one with the money in the bank, but only feel that is your money. The school you study or studied cannot become one with you. So also your car in the garage or the house you live and all those books in the shelf. But the feeling oneness is very special. You feel it often with your best friend or the family members or even with the characters on TV.

When something is 'yours' then it is right and when it belong to 'somebody else' then it can be wrong. Similarly when something is yours then you don't desire it anymore, but your desire comes for something only when it not yours. When it is yours you don't compete or fight, but if it is somebody else's then there is nothing but competition and fight. When it is yours you can give to others when it is other's then you are forced to grab.

Usually when you go out of your house, you turn on the switch 'NOT MINE' about everything you see. That's why you find fault with traffic and get angry with people and desire for everything you see on the windows of all the shops. You look at people as your competitors and feel insecure, then get stressed because you are forced to prove yourself as somebody in this world.

ACTION - Turn off the "NOT MINE" switch totally. Of course turn on the "ONENESS" switch at all times. Though initially the NOT MINE switch gets turned on again by itself out of habit, it would soon be set right as you try again and again.

ADVANTAGE - You would find yourself at your very best. You can simply disarm even the worst of your enemies with the 'feel' of oneness. The feeling of oneness is probably the best feel you always look out for. When you apply such a feel towards something, even if it is not yours, soon it becomes a way of living for you.

CAUTION - You need not always tell others that everything is yours. It may not be understood by others and they may mistake you for being little nutty. After all you need not tell what you feel to everyone always.

RESULT - There will be a constant sense of serenity and stability about everything you do. The whole spiritual world is trying to experience just that. You will be doing it, without any effort and you will soon realize that you can achieve a lot more success and happiness, minus the stress and pain of this world.

PRACTICE - There is no fixed time for this. It is just about all the time available to you. Look outside the window of your house and see those houses nearby and tell yourself, THEY ARE MINE BUT I HAVE LET IT OUT FOR OTHERS TO LIVE. Look at all the cars parked in the lot and remind yourself ALL YOUR CARS BEING USED BY EVERYONE. Watch TV and remember that all the people and places you see in it are known to you always, even if it is Bin Laden. Look at the moon up in the sky and plan "have to visit sometime soon once I'm through with my work" Not as an achievement but as a matter of fact.

S W I T C H # 4

S L E E P



Consider this. All the gods are sleeping all the time, but not really ! They are like as if sleeping. Imagine your own good self when you have fast and deeply slept. The global warming or the rising inflation does not bother you even a bit. The scriptures talk of sleeping as a great virtue. The great gods like Vishnu, Shiva, Buddha are always seen with half eyes closed as if they are engaged in some great sleep. When you practice this, you are totally oblivious of all happenings around you at that point of time. You are no more influenced by this world but remain in your original source.

Let us understand this a little more. you are basically blessed with awareness all the time. Mostly awareness about all the sounds and sights and smells. That kind of awareness is called as distorted awareness because you are only aware of surroundings and not aware of your own self. But when you are asleep, you lose that distorted awareness and gain what is called as pure awareness. It is called pure awareness because you are aware of only your self and NOTHING ELSE. But unfortunately you are not aware of the pure awareness in you during sleep.

Apply the same even when you are awake, especially at the times when you face a very difficult or a challenging situation in life, Challenging here could be even waiting for a bus at the stop or driving the car through the jam. As if you are sleeping, but with eyes open wide and legs and hands fully functional. Somewhat like a zombie. This helps you prevent this world getting on to your nerves. TURN ON THE SLEEP SWITCH right in the middle of some noisy and ruffling situation and just be. The best part is that you would soon become aware of the pure self without any distortion, without any sleep too.

ACTION - Turn off the ALERTNESS switch. The alertness can cause stress, when you stretch it beyond certain limit. Alertness is NOT REQUIRED AT ALL TIMES EXCEPT WHEN YOU ARE MAKING DECISIONS AND DISCRIMINATING A SITUATION ETC. Turn on the sleep switch every time you get a chance, even if it just few minutes. Importantly do not feel guilty about practicing such a brief wakeful sleep.

ADVANTAGE - This would make you feel a lot more relaxed and refreshed right in the middle some demanding hours of the day. This quietens the mind and save yourself all the possible stress you may accumulate in your dealings with people.

CAUTION - Learn well when to turn off and turn on, because if you turned off at a crucial board meeting, then you never know the resolutions passed. People will start taking advantage of your 'sleep'. Sometimes with your sleep like attitude the real sleep also might catch up. Watch out.

RESULT - This kind of wake full sleep prepares you to face life with more fresh energy and vigour. It amount of awareness and alertness to follow such a sleep is tremendous. You would begin to enjoy this and soon realize that you don't need some separate hours to take a break.

PRACTICE - 1. Tell yourself, you don't belong to
this world at all. You have nothing to do with anything
that's going on around you. Like the sun continue to shine
despite a million storms that might strike beneath.
2. close your eyes briefly and tell yourself that you
are now disconnecting with this world
3. take a deep breath and before letting it out,
suggest to yourself that along with this breath
you would let out all your stress and pain.
4. Let the breath go out in a single gush. Then soak in
that silent sleep like moments that follow deeply as long as
you should and do not hesitate to repeat it as many times possible.

- switch # 3

J O U R N E Y

Life seem to be a journey and everyone wants to reach somewhere called 'destination'. You also join the bandwagon at some point of time in your life and then end up running aimlessly hoping to find some destination. But NOBODY EVER HAS REACHED ANY DESTINATION because nobody ever feels that way even after running for a lifetime and only hit the death bed finally. But you know well that death is NOT the destination you were seeking.

Nobody has ever known where is the destination. But the urge to reach the destination usually drives you nuts and also brings some bitter things like stress, fear, insecurity, hopelessness in your life. The fear of never reaching the destination, the tiredness of journeying for too long, the race and competition with others as you run towards the unknown destination, the mode of your transport, as you see around some seem to travel luxuriously (life without problems), some travel in pitiable transport (life full of troubles) can make you feel inferior or superior to others.
All this because your journey is always destination oriented and NEVER about journey itself.

The secret is you should shift your focus from the destination to journey itself.

TURN OFF THE DESTINATION SWITCH and TURN ON the JOURNEY SWITCH. Do not bother where you have to reach, but focus on HOW you reach. Even the most happy and joyful moments are missed by you during the journey(life) because your attention is on the destination and not on the journey.

Journey is WHAT IS HAPPENING TO YOU NOW and destination is WHERE YOU MIGHT (or might not)REACH SOME DAY. Your journey is happening now, so its concrete reality. The destination may happen someday, so it is only an assumption.

When you really shifted all your focus to the present journey from the future destination, the most miraculous things happen to you in your life. They spiritual bigwigs call it SELF AWARENESS, you can call it just HAPPY JOURNEY.

ACTION - Turn on the journey switch
and turn off the destination switch.

ADVANTAGE - You can set your journey
in a more comfortable manner and start
to enjoy the life as it goes by.

CAUTION - People will constantly threaten
you about the need to focus on the distant
destination. JUST IGNORE THEM.

RESULT - When you turn on the journey switch,
you will NO MORE come under the pressure of
reaching the destination within a deadline.
You are no more afraid of not reaching the
destination. You feel so light weight and
suddenly your life will come fully alive
just this moment. that's when you know that
THE DESTINATION IS COMING CLOSER.

PRACTICE - Sit quietly every time you get a
chance throughout the day and close your eyes
gently. Then try to feel everything that is going
n around you. Good and bad sounds, good and
bad smells, all good and bad things are OK.
But feel them fully.

You have just taken the most important
step in your life towards your destination.

- s w i t c h # 2

E X P E C T A T I O N

They say you should not have expectations, but you MUST EXPECT in life. Not about one particular thing in one particular way, BUT EXPECT EVERYTHING, the good, the bad and the ugly. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. People told you that what you expect will eventually happen. But that's a false theory, barring fewer times, when things apparently happened the way you expected. They happened not because you expected, but you happened to expect somewhat similar to what happened. Because if everything should happen according to our expectations only, this world would have been doomed a millions times over and over again by now. On several frenzy moments, you would have expected (wanted)the whole world come crashing down, because you did not get what you wanted. But it never happened.

To expect is to be prepared. Its not wishful thinking. It is not a desire. But just simple preparedness, like the fire service guys go to work everyday expecting fire accidents. They don't wish an accident seriously but they just expect. Its a kind of a open mind which is ready to recognize everything that is happening and likely to happen in future life. Only biased expectation brings misery, but total expectation brings joy and fulfillment

ACTION - Turn on the switch of expectation and remember to
leave it ON forever. Drop the idea that expectations are bad.

ADVANTAGE - Bad events will NOT jolt you anymore.
Good events will NOT excite you and throw you off gear
anymore. You will remain quite steady.
After all you expected them all to happen !!!

CAUTION - When people come and tell you some bad news,
DON'T TELL THEM you expected it. You may end up losing
friends and gather more enemies.

BENEFIT - You will become so steady and you will be
surprised to see yourself wrapped up in total harmony
all the time DESPITE THE WAR LIKE SITUATION
AROUND YOU many times.

RESULT - To expect anything and everything is like
throwing your arms wide open and receive just about
anything coming to you. Surprisingly you will find
all the goodies land up into your arms most of
times, except a few rotten ones at times.
But then you expected that too, so what is the big deal ?

- s w i t c h # 1

C u r i o s i t y

Curiosity probably killed the cat but NOT YOU. You'd rather come alive with curiosity. Most times the life is posing a big time threat, only because of your limited knowledge about yourself. GET CURIOUS, not about anyone else, but YOU. Ask yourself why you thought the way you thought in the past or even now. Why you talk, emote, behave the way you did in the past and now. What prompts you to be what you are now ? When you press that curiosity button, you have actually begun the exploration of a lifetime which indeed will take you places.
ADVANTAGE - When you get curious about you, your focus shifts from the world and towards you. For a change you stop blaming the world and that brings certain harmony around you.

CAUTION - The questions are raised in curiosity about you not in order to accuse you, but only in order to find the answers. So be a sport when you get curious about you.

RESULT - Curiosity about you leads to self exploration, contemplation and it would set you up on a journey to balanced life and fulfillment which in turn LEADS TO SUCCESSFUL LIVING.

PRACTICE - when you look at someone, do not analyze and judge the person, but shift the whole focus on how you look at him and what parameters you use in analyzing and judging him. Turn the switch of curiosity on consciously at the start, it catches up soon and will get started on its own soon.

First Things First

Its a open secret that we wish to make our lives full of FUN, HAPPINESS AND FULFILLMENT. We don't want sorrow because we know its not worth it. In fact we know that there is something more to life than just finding happiness. But unfortunately, we don't know clearly what is that, how it is achieved, sustained and enjoyed.

This blog is aimed at exploring those hidden switches of your psyche, switches that electrify your feelings, emotions, perceptions and same time connect to your soul and draw ENERGY from it. Not knowing the switches is ignorance and knowing them well is getting smart. Using the same switches to reach to your soul is wisdom.

They call it enlightenment, if you wish, you can call it too.

HOW LONG CAN A BAD THING LAST ? Its time to wake up and smell FREEdom. This is not a self help pulp document but this blog should help you to go even beyond the mortal happiness and experience bliss, even as you are alive and reading (this blog).

Carefully picked from various teachings of the Living Master, these switches are identified to you with love and bonhomie.

-blog editor