Moving On To The Next Level
My husband and I were having nopales and scrambled egg burritos at Alicia’s Restaurant this morning, discussing the collapse of the Roman and Mayan civilizations. Specifically, about the precursors that led to those collapses that are now appearing across the world. Without getting too far into it, you can read more in Jared Diamond’s eye-opening book Collapse: How Socieities Choose To Fail or Succeed.
Suffice to say that our society is increasingly moving towards a haves/have-not’s paradigm. One of the characteristics that is currently defining the "have-nots" is lack of health insurance and medical care, which is why I am concentrating my learning and teaching on energy modifications that can be use to effect superior mental and physical health without the use of any devices, medicines or externals. Plus which, meditations and daily practice that constantly upgrade our internal selves and cause us to sort for that which will have the greatest positive effect for all concerned.
Wayne Dyer speaks of this in Your Sacred Self: Making The Decision To Be Free in the chapter everyone should read if nothing else: Recognizing The Limitations of Your Past. One of the things Dyer speaks of releasing, is the idea that "More Is Better" - otherwise known as "Keeping up with the Joneses". Below are Dyer’s simple recommendations for Releasing "More Is Better". Whomever you are, you NEED THESE TIPS, so do keep reading…
1. Simplify, simplify, simplify - Weed down your possessions to the bare minimum. Give away anything you will not need in one year’s time. Get tough with your Inner Pack Rat. I’ve had to ignore my mother’s voice inside urging me to save random bits of string, odd buttons and gewgaws that "might come in handy later". Mom and Dad were shaped by The Great Depression where many resources were in short supply. They saved everything and when I cleaned out their house after their deaths, I found fifty year old bits of string, wrapping paper, packages of ancient unused toiletries, even canning and sewing supplies from before I was born. When "stuff" is this piled up, there is no room for new energy to enter your life. Clutter creates a heck of an energetic blockage of its own.
Dyer says to practice saying "No, I will not pursue that item" and in short time, you will find the items you wanted so badly but couldn’t get before, coming to you quite easily. "This is freedom" Dyer says, "the abilitity to choose to be, rather than to accumulate".
2. Give yourself regular moments of silent contemplation - Dad used to do it in his office down in the basement away from the television to which he was addicted, and Mom did it at odd moments during the day, where she read her Bible and then sat silently contemplating what she read. I prefer the silence of redwoods when I can get to them and when not, sitting on the ground with my bottom in full contact with the earth and simply listening to my heart and whatever else comes up. Whatever it is for you, make Silence a daily occurrence. The practice of meditation and prayer, says Dyer, gets you back in touch with God - however you conceive Deity to be. "These moments of contemplation remove you from the idea that you have to have more".
3. Practice Saying "I Pass" - When you start feeling the urge to pursue "more", Just Say No. After saying this a few times Dyer says, you will begin to feel more freedom than ever before.
4. Get Back to Nature - Dyer says "wilderness is therapy". As in #2, I combine my getting back to nature with walking among the California redwoods. My preferred vacations include anything to do with waterfalls, deep forest tent camping and occasionally, the desert. I learned this from my Mom, who in addition to being a pack rat, was also the first serious recycler I ever encountered. Whenever Mom had any free time she would take me to the local park. A small creek ran just under the swingset, and we would cook crawdads in a (recycled) tin can over a small campfire while hunting wild watercress and lamb’s quarters for salad.
Mom grew up taking daily outings like this in the 1920’s, never knowing the mall, television or video movies as a child. Kids amused themselves out of doors, and adults went strolling in the evenings rather than staying glued to the tube. Along with Dyer’s recommendations here, I will give you a fifth:
5. Unplug - Television is one of the greatest health hazards in homes around the world. It kills physical fitness by encouraging one into a sedentary lifestyle and all too often becomes a substitute for a viable relationship between family members. While some television can be instructional and motivating, the vast majority is, to be honest, "mindless pablum" (to quote Richard Stengel in Time Magazine March 2, 2001).
If you have a television or a computer habit (yes, the computer counts!) consider Unplugging as a way of simplifying. If you’re a video game junkie, got to have the home shopping channel or can’t get by without your soaps - ask yourself what you might be missing in this big wide world, while you’re glued to the small flickering figures that doesn’t exist on a box whose sole purpose for existence is to get you to spend more money? YMMV, but think about it…
I’ll close with Dyer’s quote from Peace Pilgrim "A simplified life is a sanctified life". Whomever you are, from corporate executive to to office worker to waitress to grandparent, to any occupation or role in life, you can simplify and gain inner peace.
Instead of "more is better", let your mantra be "peace is better". Indeed.
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