MAETREYII MA EXPLORING THE MYSTIC HEART OF YOGA
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Yogic Wisdom Blog

What is Gratitude?

11/27/2018

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"Gratitude is not only in what you do
​ but how you approach what you do." 
There are some whose lives are filled with great blessings but still feel that they have nothing. And there are those who are truly poor, yet given even the slightest crumb will feel they are most fortunate. One may be as wealthy as a prince or princess and still feel impoverished or as poor as the poorest beggar and feel wealthy.

The feeling in the mind is not dictated by the external circumstances or environment but by the mental approach taken by the individual. When you want to be happy, to make the best of your life, it is best to take the approach of the person who feels that whatever they have, be it great or be it ever so humble is the blessing of God. It is better to feel that you are fortunate than to feel you are deprived. Either feeling might be there, be you rich or be you poor, be you overflowing with opportunities or be you lacking in direction. 

The practice of gratitude can take many forms. You may begin with simple exercises such as beginning and ending each day by remembering or even writing down all the things you are grateful for. They can be large or small, from a new job you are excited about to a flower you saw blooming by the side of the road, a beautiful sunset or a person who smiled at you warmly in a store. Part of the practice of gratitude is simply beginning to notice all the good things that go on around you each and every day. Sometimes we get conditioned only to notice what is wrong with the world and our lives and we overlook what is right.

Gratitude is turning that process around. Another helpful practice is to remember all the kind deeds done toward you by others. Think of someone you know and appreciate and express your gratitude. Write him a letter or email or even better tell him in person how much you appreciate him. Notice what others do well and express your appreciation. And don’t forget your animal friends grace of the Divine that is opening another direction that will lead you where you really need to go. For the Divine looks at your heart and seeing your heart will help you go where you must go to become all that you can be. So do not be unhappy with your life; do not be sad with your existence for your future is bright and the Divine looks after you with great love and affection.


If you take the view that whatever is given to you in life is a blessing, you will find that your life is filled with blessings throughout. You will find that you have much potential within that will evolve forward as time goes on. Never be disheartened; never allow yourself to be discouraged; know that you are guided. The same force that guides the stars guides you also. That which is in the depths of your heart is what you really need to find your way home to the ocean of love. The Source will come to you and guide you, for grace surrounds you. So live in gratitude. Live in reverence for life and transform your life in joyous appreciation.
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Understanding True Forgiveness

11/14/2018

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“Forgiveness is the scent released by a violet
Upon the heel that has just crushed it.”
Unknown Origin

The concept of forgiveness is spoken of in many spiritual traditions. In Biblical terms, it is said that we should turn the other cheek, have gentle behavior and practice nonviolence. To be able to do this, you must be able to forgive the one who has affronted you or who has harmed you.

How do you practice forgiveness? Does it mean that if somebody does an ill act to you, that you merely accept it? This is not exactly the meaning of forgiveness. To forgive someone is to understand his or her suffering not to take it into you. Deepen your insight so that you can see the pain of another and how out of his or her suffering and pain, harsh acts toward you arose. Seeing this, you may realize that perhaps the ill action is even a cry for help.

You see how different this is? Perhaps the person is crying for help like a little child screaming and throwing things because he or she doesn’t know how to deal with the pain. The person needs help so has attacked you out of ignorance and pain. If your mind goes deep enough, your empathy strong enough, you will see the very cause of the suffering.

Rather than take somebody’s actions personally, you might apply an attitude of compassion. Perhaps you even contemplate how you can help. Having compassion for living beings, their pain and the harsh actions that come from their pain, is the root of forgiveness. When you move into a place of completeness governed by love, compassion and knowledge, then no ill act of another will harm you, for you will not take it into yourself.

This ability comes from maturity of mind. The idea of forgiveness is a little glimpse, the beginning of a state of mind where compassion dominates you. This is a state where you are complete in your Self, complete in your divine nature, where nothing and no one can harm you. You see only the need and you act accordingly.

If you or those you love have been badly harmed by the actions of another, forgiveness may be difficult to achieve. You may struggle with desires for revenge, for justice, for the situation to be made right somehow. Yet this does not always happen and injustices do occur in the world. When all is said and done and the dust settles, we are left with how we can best cope with the hurt, the pain and the sense of injustice that remains when harm has been done. Feelings of helplessness, despair, anger and rage can occur.

The problem then is not the aggressor or oppressor, but how to heal ourselves and find our peace and happiness again. This is where forgiveness comes into play. It is a kind of letting go, making ourselves large enough to embrace even that which is so intolerable and find our joy and the brightness of love again. To do this we need to let go of our enmeshment with the perpetrator of the harm.

Forgiveness is giving space through acceptance of what
we cannot change.

Forgiveness is the way we loosen his or her hold on us. Forgiveness is giving space through acceptance of what we cannot change and compassion for even the darker aspects of human experience until again the light of the inner Self shines bright in the mind and love returns. Then slowly, slowly light fills the darkness and we let go of our mental entanglement with the one who has done the harm. Seeing the pain of the perpetrator, having compassion and letting go, we begin to rebuild. We find love, awaken spirit and begin to realize how strong the human heart really is. This process starts with forgiveness, letting go and being with what is. This practice of compassion for all those who have hurt us so deeply allows us to heal.

If someone is offering an affront or doing harm to you, when you do not take the individual’s actions personally and practice forgiveness, then you tend not to hold on to the experience. However, when the hurtful action or the affront is taken personally, you will react with anger, you will react with hurt. You will be wounded. If you take it to heart, it will harm you. If instead, you do not take it to heart, it will roll off like water off a duck’s back.

Forgiveness comes when you are able not to take to heart the affronts or wrongdoings of others toward you. When you begin to see that they are in reaction to their own pain and suffering and that their affront or actions against you were not meant personally toward you, it becomes easier to have a little distance. You become able to be unreactive, untouched by the behavior of others and thus maintain your equanimity of mind.


You can let go because you are untouched by the ill action. However, the question then comes, what if the person continues to do the affront or the harm to you? What if his or her actions are even harming other people? Then what to do? If someone continues to do ill actions toward you or toward others, then action may be needed to stop him or her, not out of anger, not out of reaction, but in practical steps to contain the damage that will be done or is being done by the individual’s actions. Forgiveness is not simply to accept and allow all type of negative behaviors but is the ability to let go of your own reactivity, your own tendency to take the actions of others personally.

Samskaras, your subconscious reactions to different experiences you have had, form when the reactive mind is activated. When you stay in balance and you do not take the hurts and ill actions of others toward you to heart, then the reactions of mind become minimal. The impact on you is not there. You maintain yourself in loving kindness and compassion. This, like all of the ethical understandings of spiritual life, leads to a certain equanimity of mind, a peacefulness of mind that allows for knowledge of the Divine.

Forgiveness comes when you are able not to take to heart the affronts or wrongdoings of others toward you.

Practicing forgiveness helps you clear away distress. This enables you to have the calm needed to focus your mind and sink into your meditation practice without difficulty. Having forgiveness and compassion, selfless acts of kindness arise. When you are seeing the Divine everywhere, detachment emerges. These bring you the ability to maneuver the weals and woes of the world with minimal distress and find your way to love.
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  • Home
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