Inspiration From Kristopher Raphael

There is a Zen saying, “To understand nothing takes time.”

When in body we have available to us the beautiful gift of time. Time is a wonderful tool but it is a tool we often repel – either we have too much of it, or more often, not enough of it. In a society of instant gratification many have difficulty accepting and using time the right way for their growth and transformation.

Due to time there are things we can do in body that are simply not possible when not in physicality. Due to time we have process. A spiritual path is a process. It is through the process of healing that growth and transformation occur. It is through the process of cleaning, clearing, and healing the human tonal (a Toltec term) or personality that we reclaim our personal power.

It is possible to compress time. This is one of the secrets of a spiritual path. A master gets much done with little effort. He or she does this by compressing time.

How do you compress time? You do it through expanding awareness. The more awareness you have in any given moment, the more time is compressed, and the “quicker” your transformation, the more you will ‘get done’ in a short amount of time. Awareness is like a muscle. The more we use it the stronger and more expansive it becomes.

What most people do is to grasp and repel. They repel the healing, maturing and growth they need to do, due to their fear of pain. And, they grasp at the life they want. The problem with this is that by grasping and repelling they are increasing the time required. In other words they prolong their suffering. By grasping and repelling they stop the possibility of process. Without process no growth and transformation can occur. All they have is motion, like a dog chasing its tail – lots of motion but little movement.

Repelling is a form of avoidance. Avoidance is a shutting down of awareness. When we shut down awareness all growth and transformation stops, we end up living the same painful cycles over and over again.

When we embrace time and process, each moment becomes fuller and more alive. Life literally expands in each moment. Each moment becomes a transformative process.

A practical exercise we can do is to slow down. A spiritual master moves slowly. This is the opposite of what most people do. Many people rush around driving themselves into a tizzy and actually getting little done. When you find yourself in a rush to get things done, slow down and you will get more done. But more importantly, when you slow down and engage your awareness, your growth and transformation actually speed up.

Savor each moment. There is another Zen saying, “Chop wood, carry water.” In other words by fully existing in simple daily activities we enter the state where time becomes our ally and not our enemy.

Love and Light,

Kristopher

http://masteryofawareness.com

La Parroquia in San Miguel de Allende

In part 1 of the Living in the Flow of the Now Moment Series, I gave a simple, yet powerful technique for living in the now called savoring. Most all techniques on a personal growth path or spiritual path are meant to be simple. This doesn’t mean they are always easy, but when you find yourself confused or if things seem complicated, there is a good chance that your mind has run away with you and it is time to come back to self. Here is another simple, yet powerful tool you can use to stay in the precious now moment.

I am writing this in the beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where I have been living for two months. The first day I was here I was awestruck by all the bright colored doors and quaint cobble stone streets. Everywhere I looked I saw a picture I wanted to take with my camera. However, my camera wasn’t working. I was a little disappointed because I knew that the shear exquisiteness of the town would not impact me the way it did this first day. I knew that once I had become accustomed to what I was seeing, I would not notice it like I was now. This is because once the mind knows something, it has a tendency to not notice it like it did the first time. There is less awareness of it.

The problem with this is that when doing the same routine people tend to become mind-less instead of mind-full. How many of us have arrived at work after commuting the same streets a hundred times realizing that we don’t even remember that morning’s drive to the office? The mind is so familiar with the route it has taken many times over that it simply checks out. This checking out is another way you put yourself out of the now moment. You are simply not present. You must be present in the now moment to experience it.

After a time I decided to buy a new camera. I found one I liked and went out to the streets of San Miguel to take photos. With the help of the new camera, I consciously chose to see San Miguel anew. I again saw the many beautiful wooden doors, each with their own style and color. I saw the reflections of the light as it danced off the coble stone streets of the City after a rain. I felt a sense of excitement and appreciation for the splendor of this place so full of history and hundreds of years of creative expression from its inhabitants. I was in the Flow of the now moment.

A wonderful technique that puts you in the now moment is to find what is new in each moment. This is similar to what Buddhists call the beginner mind. In any given moment you can always find something that is new and fresh. Even if it is the same commute you have taken every day, you can find a way the light plays on the side of a building you hadn’t noticed before.

Looking at things anew, puts you in the now moment. As you focus your awareness you become alert. You become present in the moment. The more you are present in the now, the more you enter the State of Flow.

In part 1 of the Living in the Flow of the Now Moment Series, I gave a simple, yet powerful technique for living in the now called savoring. Most all techniques on a personal growth path or spiritual path are meant to be simple. This doesn’t mean they are always easy, but when you find yourself confused or if things seem complicated, there is a good chance that your mind has run away with you and it is time to come back to self. Here is another simple, yet powerful tool you can use to stay in the precious now moment.

I am writing this in the beautiful colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico where I have been living for two months. The first day I was here I was awestruck by all the bright colored doors and quaint cobble stone streets. Everywhere I looked I saw a picture I wanted to take with my camera. However, my camera wasn’t working. I was a little disappointed because I knew that the shear exquisiteness of the town would not impact me the way it did this first day. I knew that once I had become accustomed to what I was seeing, I would not notice it like I was now. This is because once the mind knows something, it has a tendency to not notice it like it did the first time. There is less awareness of it.

The problem with this is that when doing the same routine people tend to become mind-less instead of mind-full. How many of us have arrived at work after commuting the same streets a hundred times realizing that we don’t even remember that morning’s drive to the office? The mind is so familiar with the route it has taken many times over that it simply checks out. This checking out is another way you put yourself out of the now moment. You are simply not present. You must be present in the now moment to experience it.

After a time I decided to buy a new camera. I found one I liked and went out to the streets of San Miguel to take photos. With the help of the new camera, I consciously chose to see San Miguel anew. I again saw the many beautiful wooden doors, each with their own style and color. I saw the reflections of the light as it danced off the coble stone streets of the City after a rain. I felt a sense of excitement and appreciation for the splendor of this place so full of history and hundreds of years of creative expression from its inhabitants. I was in the Flow of the now moment.

A wonderful technique that puts you in the now moment is to find what is new in each moment. This is similar to what Buddhists call the beginner mind. In any given moment you can always find something that is new and fresh. Even if it is the same commute you have taken every day, you can find a way the light plays on the side of a building you hadn’t noticed before.

Looking at things anew, puts you in the now moment. As you focus your awareness you become alert. You become present in the moment. The more you are present in the now, the more you enter the State of Flow.

By now you have probably heard and read much about living in the now moment. Perhaps you have had glimpses of its benefits. You want to live in the now, but often this state of living in the now seems elusive and difficult to maintain. So how do you live in the now? Here I want to give you the first simple, yet powerful technique.

Living in the now moment is an essential ingredient for living in the Flow. Living in the Flow has many benefits. When in the Flow State, you worry less and therefore have less stress. Living stress free has numerous physical benefits such as increased immune function and lower blood pressure, which can lead to reduced heart disease. When living in the Flow, people also enjoy numerous psychological benefits such as feeling more secure, and happy. People in the Flow have an exuberance about life that is contagious. When you are in the Flow you have a greater capacity to cope and to deal with whatever life brings you. Living in the Flow is often accompanied by a wonderful state of well being.

There is a simple technique for living in the now moment that is conducive to the Flow State. This technique helps eliminate two of the biggest causes of being out of The Flow – ruminating about the past, and worrying about the future.

Negative or painful emotions such as being sad, angry, or depressed knock you out of the Flow State. These emotions such as chronic anger, for example, are often brought on by continually regurgitating something that happened to you in the past. This isn’t to say you should never get angry. There is a place for anger. However, authentic anger, like most authentic feelings pass through you. You get angry in the moment, and then it passes. However, when you begin to recall other times you were angry, or people who made you anger, then the anger builds and you become consumed by it. When in the now moment, you are no longer focused on the past and emotional charges no longer have a hold over you.

Worrying about the future, or having fear about what will happen or won’t happen also puts you out of the Flow. Chronic anxiety is caused by the constant worrying about what will happen to you. For many, such future tripping is the norm. They are constantly playing out what if scenarios in their head, ‘what if he rejects me,’ what if she says no,’ ‘what if I don’t have enough money,’ and so on. Here too, when you return to the now moment by focusing on the now moment instead of projecting into the future, you eliminate the worry, fear and anxiety that comes from being over preoccupied with the future.

It is easy to see how constantly churning past memories or habitually projecting what you think might happen or might not happen in the future, puts you out of the Flow, leading to a pretty miserable life. Instead of focusing on the past or future, if you focus on the now moment it easy to see how you can free yourself from negative emotions and worry. So how do you remain focused on the now moment?

There are several good techniques for this. However, they all basically come down awareness and your minds ability to focus on only one thing at once. Have you ever tried to listen to someone in the room talking to you while at the same time carry on a conversation on the phone? It is very difficult. The mind has difficulty splitting its attention on more than one thing at the same time, especially for extended periods of time. This is actually a good thing when it comes to living in the now.

Living in the now is no longer a new age spiritual or metaphysical concept. Recently, psychology has looked at the benefits of the Flow State and living in the now. They have come up with effective techniques to do so. One such technique is called ‘savoring’. When you savor a delicious bite of your favorite food, done to perfection, where is your focus? Are you ruminating about something someone did to you in the past? Are you worrying about what is going to happen at tomorrow’s dentist appointment? No, your awareness is focused on that wonderful lump of food in your mouth. You are focused right here, right now, in that beautiful now moment. You have just entered the State of Flow where life is good and you are full of well being.

As you go about your day, savor. Welcome whatever is in your now moment with unhurried appreciation. Savor the fresh air, the beautiful clouds, the life force coursing through your body…there is always something you can find to savor in any given moment.

Welcome to the magnificent now moment, an essential key to living in the Flow. Watch for the next technique for living in the now coming soon.

Celebrating

Every Friday, Kalyn and I celebrate. We have a group of students and friends who are actively improving their lives who come and celebrate with us, either at our home or we choose a restaurant in Santa Fe. Since doing so, we have not only seen the manifestation of our dreams and desires accelerate in incredible ways, but we have witnessed wonderful things our students and friends are bringing into their lives.

Why is Celebration a Powerful Path to Manifestation?

There are several reasons why celebrating accelerates your creating process. Here are a few;

1. Celebrating lifts the spirits of all those participating. It raises your emotional tone. As you live from a happier place, you can’t help but to attract higher vibrating things into your life.
2. Celebrating is a form of gratitude. As part of our celebrating process, Kalyn asks each person what they are grateful for in their lives. Everyone then toasts that person and celebrates what they are grateful for, acknowledging what they have received or created. Gratitude is one of the most powerful energies to strengthen manifestation.
3. Celebrating what you have manifested or are thankful for gives you more of what you are celebrating. As you celebrate what you are celebrating, you increase the energy, the thoughts, and feelings around it, attracting even more of it. It is also a personal marker for you giving you a reference point to just how much you are actually manifesting. When doing this people are often surprised at just how many of their dreams are coming true.
4. Celebration is a form of ritual. A ritual, as I am using it here, is something you repeat over time. When you repeat something often for a long period of time, especially when you do it at the same time (such as every Friday), you create energetic pathways for the energy of celebration and manifestation to come through. This empowers your manifestation process.
5. When a group of people with a common Intent come together, such as celebrating what they have manifested or what they are grateful for, it amplifies and strengthens everyone’s power of manifestation. The group synergy is powerful. Plus, having others celebrate your manifestations is a great affirmation.

A celebration is different than a party. A party is for having fun, or meeting people. A celebration is also for fun (we dance, feast, and play games), but also has Intent behind it that everyone shares. In this case the Intent is to celebrate what you have manifested or those things for which you are thankful. Even if your manifestation hasn’t yet taken form, by celebrating something you are grateful for, you will accelerate your manifestation process.

I highly recommend you take on the celebration habit. Not only will you empower your manifestation process but you will have a wonderful time doing so.

Kristopher

Happy!

Scientists have proved that happiness lies within.

What leads to greater happiness, winning the Lotto or becoming a Paraplegic?

Actually, after a year, lotto winners and paraplegics are equally happy with their lives. This is according to Harvard Psychologist, Dan Gilbert who cites data on happiness and is author of the book Stumbling on Happiness.

You have a built-in experience simulator that creates happiness

Homo Sapiens possess a Frontal lobe or Prefrontal Cortex. The amazing thing about this is it is an experience simulator. Human Sapiens can simulate experience before it happens. This is something that neither ancient man/woman (Homo Habilis (2,000,000 years B.C) or animals could do. The Prefrontal Cortex wasn’t developed yet.

Major life traumas have no impact on your happiness

Gilbert found in his labs that our experience simulator doesn’t always work as well as it should. He calls this phenomenon, Impact Bias. The experience simulator tends to cause us to believe that different outcomes are more different than they really are.  Things like winning or losing, gaining or losing a romantic partner, money and so on, have far less impact, intensity and duration than people expect them to have. Gilbert cites a recent study of how major life traumas affect people suggest that, if it happened over three months ago, with only a few exceptions, it has no impact whatsoever on your happiness.

Happiness can be synthesized

Why is this so? It is because happiness can be synthesized. The problem is that while you have the ability to synthesize happiness, you believe that happiness is something to be found. You have the belief that synthetic happiness is not of the same quality as what Gilbert calls natural happiness.

Natural happiness is when we get when we get what we wanted. Synthetic happiness is what you make when you don’t get what you wanted. Particularly in Western Society we have a strong belief that synthetic happiness is inferior to natural happiness. Gilbert says that one of the reasons for this is that our whole economic engine is built on the principle that you must get what you want to be happy, that a shopping mall full of Zen monks isn’t going to be profitable because they don’t want stuff.

Synthetic happiness is every bit as real as natural happiness

In the video below, Gilbert goes on to prove scientifically that what he calls synthetic happiness is every bit as real and enduring as the kind of happiness you stumble upon when you get exactly what you are aiming for. It is a very interesting experiment.

From a Spiritual or Metaphysical viewpoint, I would go beyond what Gilbert shows in his talk, that what he calls synthetic happiness is actually true happiness as it is not dependent on what happens to us in our lives. What Gilbert calls natural happiness is fleeting as when we don’t get what we want, or lose what we had, we are unhappy. It is a powerless type of happiness because we are 100% dependent on our external world.

Science proves happiness lies within

What is fascinating about Gilbert’s video is that it scientifically proves the old adage that true happiness lies within. Quoting Og Mandino:
“Realize that true happiness lies within you. Waste no time and effort searching for peace and contentment and joy in the world outside. Remember that there is no happiness in having or in getting, but only in giving. Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.”

Our brain is designed to create happiness

Our ability to create happiness has a physical counterpart in our brain, the frontal lobe or prefrontal cortex. Knowing this, we can no longer blame people, events or situations outside of us for making us unhappy because our brain is designed to create happiness.

Only we can make ourselves happy by using the brain faculties we all possess. Now, granted, this amazing tool called the frontal lobe doesn’t always work as well as it should. Due to emotional wounding, beliefs and other things we have stuffed in our subconscious it can run amuck manufacturing experiences in our inner world that make us unhappy instead of happy. But that is what healing and growth is for. We heal our emotional wounding, clean out old beliefs that no longer serve us and bring our subconscious conscious so that our frontal lobe is restored to the well running machine it was meant to be.

Now you know that you have everything you need to be happy inside of you. Unless you are a Homo Habilis, and don’t have a Pre Frontal Cortex, you have everything you need to be happy right inside your brain. All you need are the tools to return it to a fine running machine.

Here is the video:

What are your experiences with ‘Synthetic Happiness’?

Would you like more free videos? Go to The Golden Flow