Barbara's Blog

The power of right seeing

A great way to raise your energy, increase your power, and improve your life is to practice what I call ”right seeing”.

   By ”right seeing”, I mean focusing your attention on the Good that is already present in all people and situations. When you focus on the Good that is inherent in everyone, everywhere—you bring it forth. Then wondrous things happen and it’s as if you become a magician.

   Your life will take on a new glow.

   People will start asking you what’s your secret.

See Loveliness

Take a half an hour and sit down by yourself and focus your attention on the loveliness that is all around you. When you make up your mind to do so, you will find loveliness everywhere. Be it in the vase of yellow flowers on the table next to you or in the smile on your daughter’s face or in the excitement on the face of the little boy you passed in the supermarket… or in the kindness of your doctor or the helpfulness of your bank manager or your sister’s unexpected warmth yesterday or the fine, fine feeling of satisfaction you experienced after the presentation you just gave… The list is endless once you begin. But it’s an exercise well worth undertaking because how can you expect to savor the Good you are dreaming of—if you believe it’s somewhere far, far away? If you believe it’s far, far away, it will probably stay far, far away because Life has a way of becoming for us exactly what we believe it will be.

See Strength

If you feel weak or tired or in any way despondent or disappointed with yourself or with Life, I suggest you focus your attention on “seeing strength” for a week or two. I guarantee it will revive you. Here’s what to do.

   Again take a half an hour a day and sit down with yourself, close your eyes—and focus your attention on the strength of Life. See the strength that is everywhere present—the strength of the Universe—the strength of this thing we call Life. Go for an imaginary walk and focus your attention on the strength of Nature. See the strength of the Earth, the strength of a great tree, the strength of the ocean pounding against the shore, the strength of the wind, the rivers; look mentally at whatever brings strength to mind. Then focus on the strength in the people around you. See the vitality of your neighbors. See their energy, their aliveness—the very same aliveness that is animating you. Remind yourself how this strength feels. Let your body thrill at the thought of this strength. Feel the strength of Life pulsating through you.

   For again, how can you expect to feel strong, how can you expect to experience strength if you do not allow yourself to enjoy it?

   The secret is to enjoy the strength you already have—the Life that is already given to you—because what you focus on grows.

See Goodness

No matter who you are or where you are, there is untold Goodness in your Life right now. Because you have Life itself. This means that all the Goodness of the Universe is already yours. You may find this hard to believe, but that is only because you have covered your true nature and your true power with a veil. You have forgotten that you—the Choice-Maker in your Life—are endowed with the power of focus. And that by choosing the focus of your attention, you are already bringing forth from the invisible the Life you are presently living. If this Life is less than the Good you desire, it is only because you have forgotten your true power. And because you did not understand the mechanism, you may have thought that this less than perfect Life was something that was happening to you—that you were a victim. But this is not so. The life you are presently living is the life you are choosing.

   Thus when you understand the mechanism, you will see that the Goodness you seek is waiting for you to choose it.

   This is the secret that the Wise have long known. That the Goodness you seek is here now.  But that you—and you alone—are the only one who can bring it forth in your Life. Until you do, this Goodness will lie dormant like Sleeping Beauty—awaiting your praiseful kiss to bring it to Life.

See the Wisdom

And what about intelligence? Does there seem to be a lack of intelligent behavior around you? If so, you are again seeing the outer world mirroring your inner focus back to you.

   Focusing on what you may perceive as the ignorance of others is just as devastating as focusing on poverty and lack. In fact they are the same.

   If this is the case with you, perhaps it is time you sit down with yourself and practice seeing the wisdom and intelligence that is everywhere present—working in and through everyone all around you right now. This type of seeing is more than just focusing on the genius of Nature, which is relatively easy to do. This is a higher focus—a higher seeing—because it means focusing on the intelligence in your neighbors and in all the people you meet. This is a focus on the wisdom they are all expressing through their daily actions and activities. If you look carefully, you will see clearly that this intelligence is there. Fully present and that it was there all along, but you—perhaps in undo haste—forgot to recognize it for what it is. Now I suggest you take the time and do so. If you feel there is a lack of intelligence around you, I suggest you sit down with yourself—for at least a half an hour a day—and focus your attention on the intelligence of all whom you meet.

   Once again, to experience intelligence, you must first recognize it.

Right Seeing

Thus right seeing is the bringing forth from the invisible into beautiful manifestation the true Goodness of Life. If it is Love you wish to see, then focus on seeing the Love that everyone is expressing and that everywhere surrounds you. Again, sit down with yourself and see it in your friends, in your family, in your neighbors, in your colleagues. Is it beauty you wish to see? Then look for beauty and recognize it. Is it prosperity you feel you are lacking? Then focus your attention on the bounty that is everywhere present—both in your own Life and in the Life of others.

   It is an important turn of the inner wheel to understand that a praiseful feeling towards bounty or beauty—whether you think you own it or not—is the quickest way to call forth and experience bounty and beauty in your own life.

   This is because whenever you allow yourself to see rightly—Goodness springs forth at every turn. And quite soon, you will magically find Goodness everywhere.

From my book "The Road to Power / Fast Food for the Soul"

Would things be better?

Here's something to consider... do you think things would be better if you had your way? Probably. Most of us do... most of think if only things were going the way we think they should be going - well then sure - things would be better. It's obvious isn't it... But is it true?

Here's what I've noticed. When we think things would be better if we had our way - it's just a sign that we're resisting this moment. Just think about it. What's wrong with this moment? And you could reply - well sure things would be better  if only my back didn't hurt or if only I had a little more money in my bank account or if only my mother understood me or if only... you know the drill.

But here's the rub - what makes us think we know better than what is? What makes us think we know better than Reality? That's really the question. Especially since when we're identified with this little body and this little ego, we're only one very tiny tiny tiny part of the vast wholeness of All that is... so how can we possibly know that things would be better if we had our way? Can you see the big picture? Can I? Can any of us?

I find this is a very good thing to think about when you're feeling bad about not getting what you think you need or want!

Sitting quietly, doing nothing

My new friend Poul-Erik recently said he didn't have the ability to meditate yet... which made me think that maybe many of my friends out there have the same misconception. So I thought I'd try to write a bit about this today. First of all meditation doesn't take any ability. Meditation is not about doing anything at all or achieving anything - in fact it's the opposite. The most basic form of meditation is sitting quietly, doing nothing.

Now let me make it clear that I am not talking about visualization techniques (which are great) or relaxation techniques (which are great) or channeling or trance medtiations or any of the many other fascinating things we can do with our minds and consciousness. I am talking about "basic meditation". 

Basic meditation is simple - which doesn't mean that it's easy! In fact it's so simple that it's probably the most difficult thing we can try to do (at least that's my experience). Anyway, if you want to try here's what I suggest. Sit on the floor crosslegged with your back straight or sit in a chair with your feet planted firmly on the ground with your back straight. Put your hands on your knees or cup them before you with the right hand resting on top of the left - thumbs touching. Keep your eyes slightly open so that you are gazing ahead of you at a 45 degree angle. Sit facing a blank wall or sit in nature or sit looking at something quiet and not too distracting. Now focus on your breathing.  That's all you have to do. Watch your breathing. Watch the breath going in and out and do this for 10 minutes. That's all.

Now this might sound simple but it's very difficult to do because the first thing that happens is the mind goes crazy! You start thinking about this or that and suddenly you are gone! When this happens - when you discover that you are gone - thinking about dinner or your sweetheart or what you have to do tomorrow at work - just notice that it happens and return your attention to your breathing. That's all you have to do. And be gentle with yourself. This is not about beating yourself up or achieving anything! It's just about "being here now". That's it. The simpliest thing in the world and the most difficult. Why is it so difficult? Because when we try to sit quietly and do nothing - we discover how caught up and lost we are in our own thinking and how little we are present in this moment!

It's a good idea to do this every day if you can for 10 or 15 minutes to begin with... if you do... you will slowly slowly discover that you start to settle down and will begin to have brief experiences of "being in the present moment"... Enjoy!

Seeking that perfect state...

Do you believe there is some state of perfection out there and that if you just work hard enough and are good enough - well maybe one day, one great wonderful heavenly day - you'll arrive and find yourself resting perfectly in this wonderful, perfect state of perfection? Well if you have this belief, then you're just like me. Consciously or not, I think I've had this belief my whole life and now I can see how it's been driving me crazy for years and years.  Because with this belief, what happens to today? What happens to the preciousness and beauty of this moment, this day, this minute?

I've discovered that I miss so much when I believe that there's something out there, somewhere, in the future perhaps, that's better than this. And when am I going to get there? Tomorrow? 10 years from now? And then what happens? Well you get old and you die...

And without this belief - how would things look right now?

When I try to feel it, I discover a spaciousness of heart and of mind that I missed before - towards myself and towards everyone else too... a kind of niceness and softness... and warmth.

And this is not to say we can't work towards goals and try to improve ourselves... but that's not the same as getting caught in the belief that there is some perfect state out there somewhere which will magically transform everything if only we could achieve it!

Tim's "doing nothing" meditation

Since I wrote about Tim's favorite "doing nothing" meditation yesterday, I asked Tim to describe his meditation technique so I could share it with you.

This is what Tim wrote:

“I sit down in a comfortable position (you can also do this lying down, but be warned that it’s very easy to fall asleep when doing this!). The particular position doesn’t matter, I just try to be as comfortable as I can. I have found that it is very important that I keep my eyes open. If my eyes are closed it is very easy to get lost in thoughts and stories, but not so much if my eyes are open. So keeping my eyes open is very important.

Once I am sitting comfortably, I quite simply “do nothing”. Now, what do I mean by “doing nothing”. I start my “doing nothing” session by telling myself that for the next 15 minutes, half hour, two hours, or however long I am going to “do nothing”… I don’t have to do anything – in other words, no physical activity at all, apart from maybe shifting my position once in a while if it gets too uncomfortable… I don’t have to say anything… and, most importantly, I don’t have to think about anything in particular. Now what do I mean by not thinking about anything in particular? Of course – as you will immediately notice! – thoughts and stories arise and disappear constantly, and there is absolutely nothing you can do about that. That is the nature of mind. Just as “doing nothing” is not about trying to get to a point where your physical body no longer breathes or digests (as if such a thing were even possible), so “doing nothing” is not about getting to a point where thoughts no longer arise and disappear. If a million thoughts pass by your mind a minute – good. If very few thoughts pass by your mind a minute – equally good. The point is that I don’t engage in any of them, attach to any of them, resist any of them, try to keep any of them. I just notice them arising and disappearing. Another important point is that I don’t mentally engage in any kind of meditation, mental exercise, visualization or anything of that kind. In other words, I don’t try to focus on my breathing, a mantra or anything of that sort. I simply do nothing.

One of the very first things that I notice when “doing” (or rather “not doing”) this, is how hard it is for my mind to do nothing. Thoughts constantly arise and disappear, and very often I notice that now I am lost in one of them, unconsciously following a train of thought. The moment I notice that I am following a train of thought, I immediately stop and resume watching. And again. And again. And again. A thousand times again. Often I find that my mind is fighting very violently against doing nothing. Almost every time I do this I notice that some of the most insistent thoughts are thoughts like: “I am wasting my time.” (why?) Because “I need to do something.” Why? Because “This is not good enough.” “I need something.” And these thoughts, I have noticed over time, are the root thoughts of all suffering. The root thought of all suffering is the belief that reality, what is in this very moment, is not good enough, and that I would be happier if reality were different than it is. This leads to the belief that “I need to do something” or “change what is” (attachment and aversion). And with these two twin beliefs arises an entire world of suffering. No wonder that my habitual thinking recoils in horror at the prospect of “doing nothing” for a while!!!

The most paradoxical thing I have noticed about “doing nothing” is of course that my motivation for doing nothing still is to achieve something. In other words, that doing nothing will somehow improve my experience, make my mind clearer, and make me happier, more peaceful and blissful. And while on one level, one can’t deny the fact that this is indeed one’s motivation for doing nothing, I have also noticed that this motivation is in itself the opposite of “doing nothing”! But just noticing this paradox often makes me laugh out loud, because I see the utter absurdity of my own thinking! But however I look at it, the fact remains that the one and only reason why I find it so difficult to “do nothing” is the belief that this moment is not good enough as it is. The mother of all suffering. But is it true? Who would you be without the thought that this moment is not good enough as it is?”

More electric body stuff

The electric body meditation takes me to the wildest places... I must say. I'd like to share this with you but don't know for sure if words can do it. But I'm going to try! I suggest you try using my son Tim's favorite meditation position for this one.... you sit (either on the floor or in a chair) and look at a blank wall. If you can do this for 10-15 minutes and feel your inner electric body, you might just discover what I have discovered... and it's this... that inner space and outer space are identical. When I do this meditation, I get to this place where the inner realm, the vastness of the space between the atomic particles which seem to make up me, is just as vast as the vastness of space out there in space! And when this happens it's like I have to ask myself - where is this so-called entity called "I"? I just can't find this entity but what I do find is that there is this very thin matrix of thoughts (my thoughts) which is somehow suspended in space between the vastness of inner space and the vastness of outer space... it's really mind-boggling...!

More about the electric body

Mihkel asked about how he would know if it was the "electric body" he was experiencing... and well in my experience, when this meditation really "works", you just know. It's like if you envision the quantum field that the quantum physicists are always talking about - and keep in mind that when you break everything down to the smallest possible entities - you end up with a field of light. That's what the scientists say too. So if you follow your inner body from your organs to your cells to the molecules and then the atoms that make up your cells and then look into the atoms and see the tiny tiny electric particles that are swirling around in space and see how everything gets smaller and smaller and how there is more and more "empty space" between the particles and then "boom" in my experience you will experience the "field of light" which is the "electric body"... it's way cool when you do. Love Barbara

The electric body

Here's a cool exercise from my book "The Spiritual Pathway"...

Through meditation, focus and practice, it is possible to discover and make contact with the “body electric”. When this happens, a human being becomes truly “electrified”—or highly charged. This “body electric” is the radiant light body of a being. (This body of light, i.e., is the “lightbody” spoken of in Ascension literature.)

   To contact the “body electric” through meditation, it is necessary to have a clear intention and a razor-sharp focus on its existence. Once a state of deep relaxation and peace is established, shift the focus to the cellular level of the body, in other words envision the cells of the physical body. Then go to the next level—the molecular level, then to the atomic level. At the atomic level, the mind for example can be focused on the fact that each atom in the physical body contains the energy equal to an atomic explosion.  Then scan the body and realize that this energy—the unlimited energy of the Divine—is stored within every single atom of the physical body. This realization is often experienced as the sensation of being “electrified” or “highly charged”—an experience that is highly beneficial when the being is experiencing so-called “physical sickness” on the outer plane.

   When the electrified sensation is reached, it is beneficial to stay with it for a few moments before ending the meditation.

   Or one can continue and direct the attention to even more subtle levels of energy. This being the next level, the sub-atomic level. Continue to focus on more and more subtle levels of energy and on the body of Divine Substance until the point is reached where one becomes aware of the field of Light that one is. This truly is a form of “enlightenment”. Enjoy!