People in any profession can benefit from doing total relaxation every day. When co-workers and employees are overwhelmed by stress, they are much less effective in thier work and often miss work because of sickness. This is costly for the organization, so fifteen minutes of total relaxation after 3 or 4 hours of work is practical.
Maybe there's a place in the office where you can practice total relaxation for fifteen minutes. It's not costly to set up a stress management program in your company or organization; all that is needed is to train someone in the technique of mindful breathing. To do mindful breathing, stop what you are doing and become aware of your body, breathe in and breathe out, and relax.
For example, when the telephone rings, stop whatever you are doing and breathe in and breathe out before you pick up the phone. That way, when you answer, you are calm and compassionate; the person on the other end will hear this in the quality of your voice. It will help you become more fully present on the call.
Just one in-breath and one out-breath can help stop your habitual thinking and go back to the here and now; your mind will connect right away with your body. it's very easy and it takes maybe five or ten seconds at most-- from a state of dispersion, you become mindful and concentrated.
This is considered meditation. Meditation consists of two elements. The first is stopping, calming the mind, and concentrating. The second is looking deeply to get insight.
When you meditate, you need an OBJECT to place your attention on. You cannot concentrate on nothing. The object could be the steps of your breath, an actual object or even a concept like gratitude, appreciation etc. When you concentrate, you merge with the object of your attention.
If you sustain the concentration you will receive insight, the second element of meditation.
Actually, we cannot MAKE ourselves meditate. We can only make ourselves concentrate. To develope our ability to concentrate, we have to learn to not allow our faculty of attention to become distracted by every thought that passes through the mind. It is the nature of the mind to think. thinking is a form of talking. To interrupt it, you return again and agin to your object(the flow of breath etc).
Meditation is an effortless state that arises after continued concentration. Through practice you get closer and closer. If your concentration is interrupted many times during practice.....Stop, notice you have drifted off, and return again to your object. It doesn't matter.
What matters is that you are diligent. Don't give up---try again.
After a period of not engaging with the thoughts, they begin to quiet down. Space between thoughts becomes apparent. Your state of consciousness begins to shift and is typified by a peaceful feeling which affects both body and mind. This peacefulness is the result of identifying with the infinite rather than the finite.
Mantras can also be used as the objects of meditation. "Let Go" is a very powerful mantra. With each inhale, silently say "Let", and with each exhale say "Go". In doing so you are letting go of resistances. When you let go, you automatically let God.
By letting it go, it all gets done.
----Tao Te Ching
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Unknown Pleasures
When someone sends sexually explicit images/messages to you online, what are they trying to say???? If their profile picture is half -naked or in a bathing suit, what are they trying to accomplish?????? Would it increase their chances for having some sort of relationship with me????? Do they have a handle on some "unknown pleasures" that i should be drawn to check out????? Wouldn't this have just the opposite effect on me...to delete them.
Are we all deceiving each other????? Deep down we feel there is nothing good, beautiful, and true in us; and at the same time we are desperate to show other people how good, beautiful, and truthful we are.
What would the Buddha think about this???? What is the ultimate truth of love????
Sitting at the foot of the bodhi tree on the night when he realized the truth, the Buddha discovered something that was very surprising. He saw that the good, the beautiful, and the true are to be found in everyone. People think that the true, the beautiful and the good exist somewhere else, in someone else. They don't know that they are true, beautiful, and good at their core. Our whole life, we are looking for someone else to replace what we feel is missing.
We don't need to deceive each other, because the thing we are looking for is already in us. If we have it all ourselves, couldn't we bypass having relationships with others????
Now is our best chance, actually. When the understanding is there, we know what to do and what not to do to bring happiness and peace to another person. True love is the desire to bring happiness and peace to another person.....being generous, not selfish... being sweet, not bitter.
When there is true love, the pain of the other is our own pain; the happiness of the other is our own happiness. True love is characterized by attentiveness, respect. If we have this attention then when we see the suffering of the other person, we can't go on causing them pain. If we have respect, we cannot go on like that.
Our true teacher is within us, the real object of our love is ourselves. We have to know how to love ourselves, how to return to our true nature, to see the good, the true, and the beautiful within us. Then we will be able to see it in others. When we have seen real beauty, goodness, and truth in ourselves and others, we will no longer be deceived by outer displays.
Are we all deceiving each other????? Deep down we feel there is nothing good, beautiful, and true in us; and at the same time we are desperate to show other people how good, beautiful, and truthful we are.
What would the Buddha think about this???? What is the ultimate truth of love????
Sitting at the foot of the bodhi tree on the night when he realized the truth, the Buddha discovered something that was very surprising. He saw that the good, the beautiful, and the true are to be found in everyone. People think that the true, the beautiful and the good exist somewhere else, in someone else. They don't know that they are true, beautiful, and good at their core. Our whole life, we are looking for someone else to replace what we feel is missing.
We don't need to deceive each other, because the thing we are looking for is already in us. If we have it all ourselves, couldn't we bypass having relationships with others????
Now is our best chance, actually. When the understanding is there, we know what to do and what not to do to bring happiness and peace to another person. True love is the desire to bring happiness and peace to another person.....being generous, not selfish... being sweet, not bitter.
When there is true love, the pain of the other is our own pain; the happiness of the other is our own happiness. True love is characterized by attentiveness, respect. If we have this attention then when we see the suffering of the other person, we can't go on causing them pain. If we have respect, we cannot go on like that.
Our true teacher is within us, the real object of our love is ourselves. We have to know how to love ourselves, how to return to our true nature, to see the good, the true, and the beautiful within us. Then we will be able to see it in others. When we have seen real beauty, goodness, and truth in ourselves and others, we will no longer be deceived by outer displays.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Karma does not mean Good Luck
It's not easy to explain how the circumstances of our current life situation are created. We can see it as M.C. Escher's "Drawing Hands" where people/ideas/situations are co-creating each other. People with similar ideas and ideals are brought closer together while those that differ move further away. Consciousness would be all there is then.
But why do we think what we think to begin with? What is our role in thinking? Are we the thinker of the thought or are we the listener???? Who just said that?????
After all, our brains are just really meat. When we are alive, we are animated pieces of meat. Our brains are meat with chemical reactions. If I cut your head open I would not be able to see any of your thoughts because they aren't located in your brain.
Do they come from outside the brain from something called mind???? as in the mind of God or in the case of "Drawing Hands" the mind of M.C. Escher.
What and how we think comes from Karma. Thoughts come from Karmic seeds planted by our actions from this lifetime and past lifetimes......with Karma , reincarnation is a given. Karma is actually the sanskrit word for causation. It does not mean good or bad luck. But you definately caused it......just as you caused me writing to you.
If our Karmic impurities are burned away, what do we get?????
the Law of Karma says that at some point you performed the actions that resulted in your present situation. Karma is an opportunity for us to learn, through experience, how it really feels to suffer from a particular experience. By suffering we learn compassion, which brings us closer to all beings. That's a gift not a punishment.
Okay-----so what do we get then from our good and noble actions????? lots of money, a new car, an apartment on Park Ave, Tom Brady or Giselle Bunchen????
We get ACCESS TO BETTER , MORE SERENE THOUGHTS. This is called Equanimity of mind. Equanimity of mind leads to freedom from anxiety, anger, frustration, and other bad feeling states. Equanimity of mind leads to a source of happiness that is lasting.......and leads to being with others experiencing equanimity. And perhaps, some fabulous prizes listed above.
To ensure good Karma, give thanks for whatever happens to you. The act of giving thanks itself creates good Karma. Being happy when others are happy creates good Karma. Geshe Michael Roche calls this "rejoicing in the good Karma of others". When you are happy about another's good Karma you automatically share in that good Karma. This good Karma accumualtes, creating it's own magnetic field, which attracts more good Karma.
Activities that generate good Karma---acceptance, giving thanks, forgiveness, rejoicing in other's good deeds, being happy when others are happy.
Try it and see if it generates mental clarity and peace. The way of Karma is such that it will assure us of continued placement in "bad" situations until we transcend them.
But why do we think what we think to begin with? What is our role in thinking? Are we the thinker of the thought or are we the listener???? Who just said that?????
After all, our brains are just really meat. When we are alive, we are animated pieces of meat. Our brains are meat with chemical reactions. If I cut your head open I would not be able to see any of your thoughts because they aren't located in your brain.
Do they come from outside the brain from something called mind???? as in the mind of God or in the case of "Drawing Hands" the mind of M.C. Escher.
What and how we think comes from Karma. Thoughts come from Karmic seeds planted by our actions from this lifetime and past lifetimes......with Karma , reincarnation is a given. Karma is actually the sanskrit word for causation. It does not mean good or bad luck. But you definately caused it......just as you caused me writing to you.
If our Karmic impurities are burned away, what do we get?????
the Law of Karma says that at some point you performed the actions that resulted in your present situation. Karma is an opportunity for us to learn, through experience, how it really feels to suffer from a particular experience. By suffering we learn compassion, which brings us closer to all beings. That's a gift not a punishment.
Okay-----so what do we get then from our good and noble actions????? lots of money, a new car, an apartment on Park Ave, Tom Brady or Giselle Bunchen????
We get ACCESS TO BETTER , MORE SERENE THOUGHTS. This is called Equanimity of mind. Equanimity of mind leads to freedom from anxiety, anger, frustration, and other bad feeling states. Equanimity of mind leads to a source of happiness that is lasting.......and leads to being with others experiencing equanimity. And perhaps, some fabulous prizes listed above.
To ensure good Karma, give thanks for whatever happens to you. The act of giving thanks itself creates good Karma. Being happy when others are happy creates good Karma. Geshe Michael Roche calls this "rejoicing in the good Karma of others". When you are happy about another's good Karma you automatically share in that good Karma. This good Karma accumualtes, creating it's own magnetic field, which attracts more good Karma.
Activities that generate good Karma---acceptance, giving thanks, forgiveness, rejoicing in other's good deeds, being happy when others are happy.
Try it and see if it generates mental clarity and peace. The way of Karma is such that it will assure us of continued placement in "bad" situations until we transcend them.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Turning Shit into Shinola
The highest compliment that I ever received from a reviewer when I was a choreographer/dancer of my own small company was, "Lynn Rescigno certainly knows how to turn shit into shinola." My company had an extremely small or sometimes zero budget and I had to go out and look for dancers that were let go from other companies. The dancers considered themselves flawed but my strength as a director was uncovering hidden beauty in other companies' castoffs. The secret for doing this was letting go of what "proper/correct/beautiful" dance was supposed to be like. Lots of unexpectedly wonderful things came about when I was able to play like a child instead of work like a boring rule-fixated perfectionist. When you look into things instead of at them, then hidden secrets are revealed to you.
I would say that the biggest problem-solving skill that we can ever acquire is the ability to let go of controlling any certain outcome. This is difficult for us because then we are vulnerable----like a child. But that is the point.
Look at something as if you are seeing for the very, very first time.
By letting go of control, the things we need can come to us. An example of this is the breath. You can say an exhale is letting go and an inhale is receiving what it is that you need. It's really that simple.
One of my teachers says that we don't have control over anything at all. We can respond to events that come our way but we can't control them. Our responses then become our practice. When we respond with a sense of opportunity rather than with a sense of crisis then we make shit into shinola.
An example of this happened to me just the other day when my car would not come out of PARK. I walked to work and taught my classes, then i was going to use my AAA membership and then use my money to pay a mechanic to fix the car. I had a sense of control about my circumstances.
But because of all the walking and teaching, i was too tired and needed a break from everything. I walked to Starbuck's in Red Bank, NJ. At Starbuck's, I saw a friend who owns a really old car(1978) and he knows many things about repairing cars. He was more than happy to look at what was wrong with my car. We got out the owner's manual and just played with ideas for a while. It turned out that a fuse was blown and was very easy to change and fix.
I did not expect things to be solved so easily and maybe the things that you face aren't this easy but letting go of trying to take complete control of everything will allow for solutions to be made possible.
My being prepared with money and AAA were not even part of my solution. The best thing that happened that day was accepting the help that came my way. For everything else there's VISA, but letting go of control is priceless.
I know many people will say that they are not able to trust that their needs will be met without their attention to controlling anything and everything possible. But they will be.....
Amit Goswami, my teacher and quantum physicist, uses the example of M.C. Escher's "Drawing Hands". The two hands draw each other into existence.......You can't tell which hand is actually the hand of causation since they are both existing simultaneously. They are both being created and are creators of each other. They exist because of each other and are the answers to each other's questions. So actually, your problems and your answers are existing simultaneously too. Don't blame me for this........I did not make the world but this is an idea of how it works. This is just basic tantra.
On Facebook recently, Terry McClusky posted a picture of his food at a diner in L.A. It was a picture of scrambled eggs and a piece of chicken on a plate. He wrote,"The answer to the age old question of which came first the chicken or the egg, they both arrived at the same time."
I would say that the biggest problem-solving skill that we can ever acquire is the ability to let go of controlling any certain outcome. This is difficult for us because then we are vulnerable----like a child. But that is the point.
Look at something as if you are seeing for the very, very first time.
By letting go of control, the things we need can come to us. An example of this is the breath. You can say an exhale is letting go and an inhale is receiving what it is that you need. It's really that simple.
One of my teachers says that we don't have control over anything at all. We can respond to events that come our way but we can't control them. Our responses then become our practice. When we respond with a sense of opportunity rather than with a sense of crisis then we make shit into shinola.
An example of this happened to me just the other day when my car would not come out of PARK. I walked to work and taught my classes, then i was going to use my AAA membership and then use my money to pay a mechanic to fix the car. I had a sense of control about my circumstances.
But because of all the walking and teaching, i was too tired and needed a break from everything. I walked to Starbuck's in Red Bank, NJ. At Starbuck's, I saw a friend who owns a really old car(1978) and he knows many things about repairing cars. He was more than happy to look at what was wrong with my car. We got out the owner's manual and just played with ideas for a while. It turned out that a fuse was blown and was very easy to change and fix.
I did not expect things to be solved so easily and maybe the things that you face aren't this easy but letting go of trying to take complete control of everything will allow for solutions to be made possible.
My being prepared with money and AAA were not even part of my solution. The best thing that happened that day was accepting the help that came my way. For everything else there's VISA, but letting go of control is priceless.
I know many people will say that they are not able to trust that their needs will be met without their attention to controlling anything and everything possible. But they will be.....
Amit Goswami, my teacher and quantum physicist, uses the example of M.C. Escher's "Drawing Hands". The two hands draw each other into existence.......You can't tell which hand is actually the hand of causation since they are both existing simultaneously. They are both being created and are creators of each other. They exist because of each other and are the answers to each other's questions. So actually, your problems and your answers are existing simultaneously too. Don't blame me for this........I did not make the world but this is an idea of how it works. This is just basic tantra.
On Facebook recently, Terry McClusky posted a picture of his food at a diner in L.A. It was a picture of scrambled eggs and a piece of chicken on a plate. He wrote,"The answer to the age old question of which came first the chicken or the egg, they both arrived at the same time."
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Intrigue & Miracles in the Present
It is extremely important to learn to live in the present, we also must learn how to do so happily. Living in the present unhappily is really no better than being miserable due to resentments regarding a time gone by, or fearful and anxious due to the imagining of a time yet to come.
We must learn to be fully present and completely detached at the same time--just like watching a play or a movie unfolding. Being fully present means paying attention to what's happening.
We will succeed in staying in the moment only if we really want to be there. How can we do this???? especially when things are seemingly not going right, when unwanted things occur, or when we are confronted with a present that doesn't seem so desirable.
One way is to try to see everyone we meet and everything that happens to us---even or especially the difficult people and incidents--as special and meaningful. If we do so, we will be much more interested in the unfolding events of our lives. We will be aware of the synchronous miracles which keep us perpetually intriqued and excited by what's happening in front of our eyes. We will be living a sacred and meaningful life rather than a profane and meaningless one. Things are not intrinsically or inherently ordinary and common and we can see clues pop into our awareness like "messages in a bottle."
Swiss psychologist, Dr. Carl Jung called this experience "synchronicity". Synchronicity is the phenonmenon of "meaningful coincidence" and it helps reveal the meaning behind the events of one's life.
Scientist David Bohm said," Everything is connected to everything else. We are not sure how this connectedness works, but there is a certainty, there is a separateness without separateness."
Being interested and aware in the unfolding of our days events, we can take the next step or say the next line without confusion or stress. Acting in the moment is acting without having to think and acting on how things feel.
The method of learning to be happy in the present is an extension of what's called "guru yoga"---of deriving teachings and guidence from everyone we meet and in everything that happens to us. The word "Guru" is sanskrit for one who removes your darkness.
In addition to learning how to stay grounded happily in the present, we also need to sort of float above it. We must learn how to keep up with change. Time never stands still. Being overly attached to what's happening now is guaranteed to bring unhappiness when what's happening now ceases and something new occurs.
We need to be at ease with what might seem to us to be paradoxical or contradictory instructions. In terms of living happily in the present, we have to be grounded and detached at the same time----riveted to the present because of the miracles and teachings that are potentially all around us all the time: but also with a relaxed attitude about the passage of time and the fact that everything is in constant flux.
We must learn to be fully present and completely detached at the same time--just like watching a play or a movie unfolding. Being fully present means paying attention to what's happening.
We will succeed in staying in the moment only if we really want to be there. How can we do this???? especially when things are seemingly not going right, when unwanted things occur, or when we are confronted with a present that doesn't seem so desirable.
One way is to try to see everyone we meet and everything that happens to us---even or especially the difficult people and incidents--as special and meaningful. If we do so, we will be much more interested in the unfolding events of our lives. We will be aware of the synchronous miracles which keep us perpetually intriqued and excited by what's happening in front of our eyes. We will be living a sacred and meaningful life rather than a profane and meaningless one. Things are not intrinsically or inherently ordinary and common and we can see clues pop into our awareness like "messages in a bottle."
Swiss psychologist, Dr. Carl Jung called this experience "synchronicity". Synchronicity is the phenonmenon of "meaningful coincidence" and it helps reveal the meaning behind the events of one's life.
Scientist David Bohm said," Everything is connected to everything else. We are not sure how this connectedness works, but there is a certainty, there is a separateness without separateness."
Being interested and aware in the unfolding of our days events, we can take the next step or say the next line without confusion or stress. Acting in the moment is acting without having to think and acting on how things feel.
The method of learning to be happy in the present is an extension of what's called "guru yoga"---of deriving teachings and guidence from everyone we meet and in everything that happens to us. The word "Guru" is sanskrit for one who removes your darkness.
In addition to learning how to stay grounded happily in the present, we also need to sort of float above it. We must learn how to keep up with change. Time never stands still. Being overly attached to what's happening now is guaranteed to bring unhappiness when what's happening now ceases and something new occurs.
We need to be at ease with what might seem to us to be paradoxical or contradictory instructions. In terms of living happily in the present, we have to be grounded and detached at the same time----riveted to the present because of the miracles and teachings that are potentially all around us all the time: but also with a relaxed attitude about the passage of time and the fact that everything is in constant flux.
Monday, March 2, 2009
The Post Breakup Blog
There was a very famous, wise, and fullyy enlightened yogini in India named Anandamayi Ma. She used to cry at weddings, but not for joy. She could see the newlyweds projecting all of their hopes, desires and grandiose expectations on to each other, each one blind to the fallacy of the lofty fantasy.
I have been doing a lot of listening lately. Listening to people talk about the things in their lives that are not making them happy.
A common theme is that they are looking for love that is eluding them. many of them believe that someone else is going to make them happy and fulfill all of their wildest dreams. But here's the pure yogic truth: the love or happiness you experience at any time with any person is not coming from them; it's coming from you.
Actually, as my teacher Geshe Michael Roche says," everything you are experiencing in your outer world is just an out -picturing of your own mind." If you want your world to change; you have to change yourself at the level of mind.
Changing the way your mind thinks takes much effort on your part. Since your world is produced by your habits of thought, you have to break the habit of thinking in a way that is causing you pain. You have to sit down each day and work out the antidote to your particular suffering. You must create in your mind how you want your world to be and then you have to practice being it yourself. This will definatly involve you giving what you want to other people first. As Gandhi said,"Be the change that you want to see in the world."
I have just gone through a breakup recently and it was very different than any other breakup i ever had, at least from the stand point of mind. i have been practicing yoga as a science and not just a hobby for about thirteen years. The scince of yoga is about learning to perfect your relationships; with yourself, with others, with community, with the earth, with the cosmos etc. Learning about a knee joint is learning about a relationship; when it's working in harmony or when it's not working in harmony for example.
My ex was a musician living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His life was an out-picturing of want he wanted: gigs, fame, money, rootlessness, short term pleasures and perhaps a show like VH1 ROCK OF LOVE.
My world was changing too but in the other direction. My business was thriving with students that were dedicated, longterm practioners. I basically created a family that valued quality, stability, good humor, intelligence, creativity and presence of mind. I was able to see the out-picturing of my own mind. I was getting back what I was giving out. Even in this terrible economy, I have a 30% increase in attendence from last year and my prices are on the high end of the spectrum for yoga classes.
Without a doubt, you get the picture that you hold in your mind. Many people have said this phrase in one way or another: Patanjali, Iyengar, Dharma Mitra, Bob Proctor. They are all masters , they know what they are talking about. You should listen to them and quit complaining about everything.
I have been doing a lot of listening lately. Listening to people talk about the things in their lives that are not making them happy.
A common theme is that they are looking for love that is eluding them. many of them believe that someone else is going to make them happy and fulfill all of their wildest dreams. But here's the pure yogic truth: the love or happiness you experience at any time with any person is not coming from them; it's coming from you.
Actually, as my teacher Geshe Michael Roche says," everything you are experiencing in your outer world is just an out -picturing of your own mind." If you want your world to change; you have to change yourself at the level of mind.
Changing the way your mind thinks takes much effort on your part. Since your world is produced by your habits of thought, you have to break the habit of thinking in a way that is causing you pain. You have to sit down each day and work out the antidote to your particular suffering. You must create in your mind how you want your world to be and then you have to practice being it yourself. This will definatly involve you giving what you want to other people first. As Gandhi said,"Be the change that you want to see in the world."
I have just gone through a breakup recently and it was very different than any other breakup i ever had, at least from the stand point of mind. i have been practicing yoga as a science and not just a hobby for about thirteen years. The scince of yoga is about learning to perfect your relationships; with yourself, with others, with community, with the earth, with the cosmos etc. Learning about a knee joint is learning about a relationship; when it's working in harmony or when it's not working in harmony for example.
My ex was a musician living in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His life was an out-picturing of want he wanted: gigs, fame, money, rootlessness, short term pleasures and perhaps a show like VH1 ROCK OF LOVE.
My world was changing too but in the other direction. My business was thriving with students that were dedicated, longterm practioners. I basically created a family that valued quality, stability, good humor, intelligence, creativity and presence of mind. I was able to see the out-picturing of my own mind. I was getting back what I was giving out. Even in this terrible economy, I have a 30% increase in attendence from last year and my prices are on the high end of the spectrum for yoga classes.
Without a doubt, you get the picture that you hold in your mind. Many people have said this phrase in one way or another: Patanjali, Iyengar, Dharma Mitra, Bob Proctor. They are all masters , they know what they are talking about. You should listen to them and quit complaining about everything.
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Consciously Designing Our Destiny
The Buddha said, "Even if one conquers thousands of men in thousands of battles, he who conquers himself is the greatest conqueror." He also said, "Heedfulness is the way to life, heedlessness is the way to death. The heedful never die, but the heedless are dead alreay, though living."
The Buddha is talking about methods to end our own suffering through evolving our mental processes and habits. When we stay stuck in the past and in our past reactions, we stay stagnant.
Neuroscience calls the process of evolving our brain and our reactions to our environment neuroplasticity. At one time it was thought that by the time we were adults our brains were hardwired and the way we viewed the world was firmly established. Neuroplasticity says that we can change our brains dramatically and that the brain is designed specifically for you to do exactly that. When our thinking changes, the outcomes of our lives change. We can be available for an endless amount of experiences. We just have to have the willingness to have them.
In order to change the mind and the way it works, it takes patience and practice. We have to take time each day doing something called "mental rehearsal." Mental rehearsal is used by NASA and is also used by many sports organizations. Participants mentally practice something that they have never experienced before. The premise is that mentally rehearsing something becomes as real to the person as the actual experience itself. In fact, the brain can't tell the difference between what it's remembering and what it has actually experienced. New neuro-nets are formed because of this and the brain evolves.
For example, in Superbowl XLIII, James Harrison set an all time record for his 100 yard return on an interception right before halftime changing the course of the game. This is a once in a lifetime experience and was never experienced before by James Harrison. What he had to do to arrive at this moment was accomplished during practice sessions, both mentally and physically. He had to understand how the Cardinals' offense worked and learn the tendencies of quarterback Kurt Warner. James Harrison had to put time in each week growing and changing his brain because each opponent's offense is different. His mind had to become greater and more available each week under the pressure of playing teams he has never played on the Steelers' weekly schedule. Practice comes first....but grace comes in, too. When something amazing happens, like the 100 yard return, it illustrates the magic of grace meeting effort in the natural world.
We can do the same thing by developing our ability to pay attention. By sitting each day for a few moments of mental rehearsal of our choosing, we develop a neuro-structure capable of contemplating new possibilities and experiences until they are made manifest. What we think about, we bring about. We get better experiences when we reach for better thoughts.
Practicing over and over commits our new neuronets to continue firing together. They get stronger until they become our new way of being. We become what we contemplate.
After Superbowl XL, Ben Roethlisberger contemplated having an even greater outcome the next time he played in such a game. Superbowl XLIII was a dramatic contrast to his Superbowl XL performance. This time Ben Roethlisberger was key to the Steelers' win because he was mentally wired for the experience. His last drive to Santonio Holmes was cool-headed and adaptive in the last two pressure-filled minutes of the game. The fruits of his mental practices can be seen now in Steelers' history, giving them the sixth of their Superbowl trophies. Superbowl XL was a template for Ben Roethlisberger to work from, but his conscious attention to improve his future outcome took effort and courage.
Courage and effort equals change, as opposed to stagnation and laziness, which keep us where we already are.
Ben's decision to have a greater outcome came also with the reward of being asked to appear on David Letterman, which is another new adventure that has come from the fruits of actions which started way back at each of his practice sessions. Everything starts by simply showing up to practice.
In the movie What the Bleep Do We Know, Dr. Joe Dispenza peaked the interest of every viewer who saw it with his "I Create My Day" interview. He said:
"I wake up in the morning, and I consciously create my day the way I want it to happen. Now, sometimes, because my mind is examining all the things that I need to get done, it takes me a little bit to settle down, and get to the point of where I'm actually intentionally creating my day. But here's the thing.
"When I create my day, and out of nowhere, little things happen that are so unexplainable, I know that they are the process or the result of my creation. And the more I do that, the more I build a neuro net in my brain, the more I accept that that's possible. It gives me the power and the incentive to do it the next day."
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