February Daily Vibes | Joyful Living Day 21

Day 21 Law of Attraction Centering Thought

The spark of the Divine is within all human beings.

We need unbiased love toward the entire humanity, entire sentient beings, irrespective of what their attitude is toward us.  ~  Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The incredible thing is that when we think of alleviating other people’s suffering, our own suffering is reduced.  ~  Tenzin Gyatso, His Holiness the Dalai Lama

Eight Pillars
In “The Book Of Joy”, the eight pillars His Holiness and the Archbishop sighted are: perspective, humility, humor, acceptance, forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity. We wrote last week that the first pillar, perspective is the skill to use to experience the other pillars.

2. Humility
The two holy men spoke of humility as the quality felt when you know that we are one. The Dali Lama likes to refer to himself as one of the seven billion people on this planet. He is not separate. He along with the rest of us are all in this together. To think of himself as special is to think of himself as separate, which he knows he is not.

Both said that humility is essential to a life of joy. They said that when we have a wider perspective, we have a natural understanding of our place in the great sweep of all that was, is, and will be. “When we realize that we are all children of God,” the Archbishop explained, “and of equal and intrinsic value, then we don’t have to feel better or worse than others. No one is a divine accident.”

Knowing we are one you lose the fear base of the thinking that we are separate. This shift from thinking we are separate to knowing we are one is the great awakening Abraham speaks of.

3. Humor
Douglas Abrams sees laughter and a sense of humor as a universal index of spiritual development. According to him, “The Archbishop and the Dali Lama were certainly at the top of that index, and they skewered humbug, status, injustice, and evil, all with the power of humor.”

Humor can be bitter, but their humor was about bringing people together. It is good to see the ridiculous in us all. Then we get to see our common humanity in many ways. It is about being able to laugh at yourself and being able not to take yourself so seriously. One of the ways of getting into the hearts of people is the capacity of making them laugh. Laughing is a characteristic of the knowing that we are one.

4.Acceptance
Acceptance is, “The Only Place Where Change Can Begin.” We cannot succeed by denying what exists. The acceptance of reality is the only place from which change can begin. “We are meant to live in joy,” the Archbishop explained. “This does not mean that life will be easy or painless. It means that we can turn our faces to the wind and accept that this is the storm we must pass through.”

The Dalai Lama has been able to accept the reality of his exile and see the opportunity in it because of his approach to life that is based on the teachings of Shanti Devot. “Why be unhappy about something if it can be remedied? And what is the use of being unhappy if it cannot be remedied?”

Coming to peace with what is begins the process of witnessing what is not wanted, taking from it the clarity of what is wanted and putting your attention on the feeling of the wanted. This is the process of managing your vibrations and achieving a base of clear alignment, of joy.

5. Forgiveness
Upon leaving prison after twenty-seven years Nelson Mandela forgave his captors otherwise, he said that he would still be in prison. The Archbishop talked of Mandela as being an amazing icon of forgiveness. But he said, “You and you and you and you have the potential to be instruments of incredible compassion and forgiveness.” The Dalai Lama added that, “the power of forgiveness lies – in not losing sight of the humanity of the person while responding to the wrong with clarity and firmness. We stand firm against the wrong not only to protect those who are being harmed but also to protect the person who is harming others, because eventually they, too, will suffer.”

They talk about forgiveness being the only way to heal ourselves and be free from the past. Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us. “We are bound to the chains of bitterness. When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings. We become our own liberator” was the Archbishops viewpoint.

As vibrational beings in an attraction-based universe forgiving is coming to peace with what is to be in clear alignment with our wholeness.

6. Gratitude
Abraham teaches that the vibration of gratitude is often clouded with the vibrations of what we are glad is no longer happening. Appreciation is a clearer vibration since it is focused on the delights of what is now and fostering clear alignment. These two holy men certainly seem to use gratitude in its clear vibration form.

They spoke of gratitude as the ability to see wonder, surprise and possibility in each experience and each encounter. To them It is a fundamental to being joyful. The Dali Lama often says that he is fortunate to be alive. He has this precious human life, and he is not going to waste it.

7. Compassion
The Buddha supposedly said, “What is that one thing, which when you possess, you have all other virtues? It is compassion.” To these two spiritual teachers’ compassion is a sense of concern for the other’s well-being. If there is the possibility to help, then you can help. If there is no possibility to help, you can just pray or visualize them as well.

Compassion is actually a skill that can be cultivated. It is something that we can learn to develop and then use to extend our circle of concern beyond our immediate family to others. It helps when one recognizes our shared humanity. Try out being kind when you are walking in the street and say good morning to the people you are passing. In a short period of time, you are uplifted. This works because we really are wired to be caring of the other.

One of the differences between empathy and compassion is that while empathy is simply experiencing another’s emotion, compassion is a more empowered state where we want what is best for the other person. As the Dalai Lama has described it. “if we see a person who is being crushed by a rock, the goal is not to get under the rock and feel what they are feeling; it is to help to remove the rock.”

8. Generosity
Generosity is so important to all of the world’s religions because it no doubt expresses a fundamental aspect of our interdependence and our need for one another. Generosity was so important for our survival that the reward centers of our brain light up as strongly when we give as when we receive, sometimes even more so. Generosity is even associated with better health and longer life expectancy.

When you are clearly aligned with your Source Energy, knowing you are a spiritual being having a human experience and actually create your experiences, you realize you create the pies. There is not just one pie to divide between us all. There are as many pies as you can imagine. Knowing there are no limits to what you can create, it is natural to be generous. There is always more where that came from. Key to be generous when you are in clear alignment with your Source Energy so that the generosity comes from inspiration making it a joy to give.

Process
Acceptance – A Meditation
Any possibility of joy requires an acceptance of reality. As the Archbishop and the Dali Lama both explained, this is the only place from which one can start to work for change, personal or global.
The suggestion in “The Book of Joy” is to:

1. Sit comfortably, either on a chair with your feet on the ground, or cross-legged.
2. Close your eyes and take several long breaths through your nose.
3. Pay attention to what you hear around you.
4. Release your focus on your breath and, while staying in the present moment, notice as any thoughts or feelings arise.
5. As the thoughts come up, let them float away without judging them or getting caught up in them.
6. Think of a situation that you are having a hard time accepting.
7. Remind yourself that this is the nature of reality.
8. Acknowledge the fact that you cannot know all the factors that have led to this event.
9. Accept that what has happened has already happened.
10. Remind yourself. “In order to make the most positive contribution to this situation, I must accept the reality of its existence.”
11. You can also choose to recite or reflect on the following passage from the Buddhist tradition.

If something can be done about it,
What need is there for dejection:
And if nothing can be done about it,
What use is there for being defected?
~ Shantidev a, The Way of the Bodhisattva

or from the Christian tradition:

God, give us the grace to accept with serenity
The things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
Which should be changed,
And the wisdom to distinguish the
The one from the other.
~ Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer