Relax, You’re Going to Die

Today’s Oracle

My software angels choose this oracle quote for you today:

 

217) From your happy, relaxed state, you can model real success, which is all that so many people in the world really want. They may buy endless cars and houses and furs and gobble up all the attention and space they can manage, or barely manage, but this is because it is not yet clear to them that success is truly an inside job. That it is within the reach of almost everyone. -- Alice Walker Nov. 5, 2008 in a letter to Barak Obama.

You can use my Potent Quotes Oracle page whenever you need help.  Hold a question in your heart, and see what quote comes up for you when you scroll down.  It will be a response to your question.  Play with it.

Quotations act as little doorways into new worlds and new perceptions. They consist of distilled genius. 

Get the Wizard's Handbook on Oracle Creation and have fun with oracles. 

 

Relax, You’re Going to Die

“Relax, you’re going to die.”

Death may not be THE challenge, but knowing that you’re going to die is.

Most folks spend tons of time, money, and energy  pretending that death will not come to them or their family.  People distract themselves with endless addictions and other ways so that they don’t notice the elephant in the room.  Each decade marker they cross twinges a bit more.

I found that when I turned fifty, I began to think I might be mortal.   I thought a bit more when I turned sixty.  In both instances, I watched the awareness of death fade into the mists of denial. 

Soon, October 21^st, 2013, I will go into the hospital for my second hip replacement.  It’s a generally safe surgery, but just like driving a car, I have no guarantees that I’ll survive the journey.  I attend to getting my affairs in order – wills and such.  Tell people I love them.

So, I enjoyed the synchronicity of finding this Kindle book – Relax, You're Going to Die at the time I was contemplating death and life.  (It was free when I got it.  It may still be free when you read this.)

Tai Sheridan, the author, is a Zen Buddhist priest, of course.  No one else but Zen practitioners have such a sanguine view of death and life.  Indeed, it could be the whole point of Zen.

He has written a dozen or so poems on the subject of living and dying in Relax, You're Going to Die.  I found the poems fun, supportive, and comforting stuff.

You have read my favorite Zen aphorism before:

There is no-where to go

And no-thing to do.

I have updated it:

Relax, you’re going to die.

There is no-where to go

And no-thing to do.

And do next right thing?

I’ll leave you with one more of my favorite Zen aphorisms.

Death is certain.

Time of death is uncertain.

How then to live your life?

Relax, you’re going to die.  I find it oddly comforting and freeing.

=> Relax, You're Going to Die

Walk in beauty,

William

P.S. Thanks for downloading Drawing the Sacred: Communing with the Sacred through Drawing - An Illustrated Journey.

P.P.S. Get Notified: Have you filled in your email at the top right corner yet?  Do it now while you’re here.  Obviously, you can unsubscribe anytime if it doesn’t serve you.

 

So This Zen Guy Says

So, this Zen priest, no, better, the abbot of the Zen temple says to me, “William, why don’t you give your Beat the Flu program away?” (The Be Well Get Well Stay Well Program.)

“Genjo,” I whined, “I put tons of hours into that program. It’s precious stuff, hard won knowledge… stuff I learned – no kidding – over 40 years of working with natural healing and helping people.”

He smiled.

I grumbled.

OK. I decided to do him one better…

My joy is in writing and producing Life Giving Manuals and programs that help people live a life they love wholeheartedly – body and soul. I could make this simple for you and for me. Here’s what I decided.

I will offer everything. EVERYTHING for a buck -- $1 US.

You want to Beat the Flu with the Be Well Get Well Stay Well Program? You can get it for $1.

You want my $97 Get Wealthy First Program, you can get it for $1.

Every article, every program, every Life Giving Manual, every Laser Focused Report, every podcast, every video -- EVERYTHING – you can get them all for $1.

So, what’s the catch?

You can only get these effective, marvelously helpful treasures when you become a member of the Body & Soul Mentor website for tiny $1.

It’s simple, become a member for $1. At the end of every 30 days the membership renews at $9.97 as long as you remain a member enjoying your benefits and goodies.

At $9.97, this is less money than people spend for pizza, the on-line game World of Warcraft and its kin, cable TV, or video rentals.

Think how they feed you. OK. Now think how Body & Soul Mentor feeds your heart, your soul, and your body.

My bet is you’ll love playing with the goodies at Body & Soul Mentor so much you will want to stay around for a long time.

Why? Obviously, because it helps you to live a live you love wholeheartedly – body and soul.

And you’ll look forward to getting my newest releases for free, just by being a member. If you’ve been reading my newsletters you know I am constantly coming up with new ways to help you live a life you love, right?

You can cancel anytime. Fair enough?

Nowhere else will you find this kind of playful wisdom and support for your soul and your body.

This is the offer you’ve been waiting for, right?

OK, your turn.

Join Now or read more details about the offer HERE.

Blessings,

William

P.S. let your friends know of the $1 opportunity.

P.P.S. Did I mention you get EVERYTHING for $1?

Go for it => Join Now or read more details about the offer HERE.

Role Models for Get Wealthy First

I have a couple of role models that inspire me. They are my ideal in Deep Wealth. See how they inspire you.

First is this Zen master. Dig the poem that goes with it.

I’ll translate the lovely calligraphy --

His life is not poor
He has riches beyond measure
Pointing at the moon,
gazing at the moon
This old guest follows the way.

The other role model is Winnie the Pooh – the cartoon below – Wasted and Useful Lives summarizes the magic.

You can see lmy painting here
=> http://GetWealthyFirst.com/images/wasted200pix.jpg

Have You Watched This Yet?

My friend John Gallagher suggested, “Make it really simple for people. Let them know that everything they want starts with Getting Wealthy First.”

An old friend told me she didn’t like my ‘sales pitches’ but loved this video.

“What got me was the video. Your deep groundedness. Your quietness. Your belief
in your offering as a gift to serve humanity in a profoundly "simple" way (if we
could only remember it.)”

Here’s the video I did for you.

=> http://go.webvideoplayer.com/view/vKi9YG2MLXcrdPuOnstw22115

You can buy the Get Wealthy First Program and get all the details…

Go for it => http://tinyurl.com/ns9l8w

Live long and prosper,

William

P.S. The clock is ticking. This offer expires at 6:OO PM PDT, Thursday.

P.P.S. Pass this on to benefit your friends. Comment please.

Oh, I See Your Problem

“Oh, I see your problem,” Zen Master says, “The trouble you have is that you think you have time.”

Woof!

Who’s the “you” Zen Master addresses? To which “you” does the master refer? It’s not your Buddha mind, now, is it? It’s not the wise inner sage. It’s your personality, your ego identity, your ego mind.

Your ego has a couple of jobs, at least.

One: Always be right. Justify if you need. Be delusional if you need. Be right by being wrong if you need. Just be right.

Two: Keep the knowledge of your certain mortality at bay.

I have written before about using the phrase – today is a good day to die. Today’s quote is another take on this wake up call.

How can you use it to wake up? How can you use it to be joyful in this very moment? Instead of waiting for some event in the future, as when I win the lottery, when I marry/divorce, when I get the promotion, when my parents, spouse, boss, best friend apologizes or they approve of me.

It might be instructive for you to look inside and discover the circumstance for which you’re waiting. What needs to improve before you get to be wholeheartedly happy in this very moment?


And What Pray Tell Would Be The Best Use Of Your Limited Time?

Obviously, I recommend you use any strategy you have to become present, to become conscious of this present moment. Right here. Right now.

· Meditate
· Practice taiji
· Be still
· Watch your breathing

You can find wonderful suggestions in my books
SIMPLY SERRENE (http://tinyurl.com/mbd4x) and LOOKING DEEPLY INTO PRESENCE (http://tinyurl.com/os966) including the guaranteed Owl Eyes method.

FOOLPROOF RELAXATION (http://tinyurl.com/6zotq9) offers another way. (Note: SIMPLY SERENE contains an early version of FOOLPROOF RELAXATION.)

All three carry satisfaction guarantees. Go for it–

Simply Serene => http://tinyurl.com/mbd4x
Looking Deeply into Presence => http://tinyurl.com/os966
Foolproof Relaxation => http://tinyurl.com/6zotq9

Byron Katie’s book, LOVING WHAT IS can be very useful. More later.

Blessings,

William

Presencing

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
-William Blake

Zen and the poets have been addressing presence for centuries. What’s new is that everyone is paying attention to presence now, not just a handful of monks.

Presence lives outside of language so I find it hard to talk about. Blake’s poem points to it brilliantly.

Let me take a stab at it, too.

You travel into Presence often, but perhaps you don’t fully grasp the importance of this. If you’re like most humans, you don’t even notice it.

When you are fully present, the chatter in your mind goes still. You experience this as the peace which passeth understanding.

When you start to notice you are having these experiences of peace and stillness, you can begin to learn to encourage them.

When your mind quiets, your mind’s obsessive concerns and fears no longer drive you. You may even feel at one with all.

This is good, right?

You can think of your frightened, controlling mind as your ego. Yogis and eastern traditions call it the “monkey” mind, which is short for “a drunken monkey who has just be stung by a scorpion” mind.

Have you been there? Of course, you have.

Another name for this mind is the competitive mind. I like this one because it points to the fear that underlies and drives the competitive mind. Yet other names for this are the survival mind and the lizard brain. (See Related Article below.)


What Do You Get When This Mind Is Silent?

· You get the peace which passeth understanding.

· You get a small tastes of enlightenment that gradually become huge tastes and last for ever longer periods.

· You feel one with all.

· You live in the pleasures of flow. (See Related Article below.)

· You feel safe and supported by the whole. There is no need for faith. You become faith itself.

· You get “heaven in a wild flower”.

· You “hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.”


How, Then, Do You Still the Mind?

You still the mind by being present. When you become present, the mind is still. It has no choice.

“But William, I thought that when I was still, I got to in presence? Aren’t you contradicting yourself?”

“Probably… Hmm…

“Let me see, the confusion comes by using the very similar and related words, Presence with a capital P and present with a lower case p.
“Presence is sacred and although you are part of it and it fills you absolutely, you don’t control it. Being present – being right here, right now – is something you have some control over.

“When you become present, you become still and you enter into Presence or more accurately, you experience Presence directly.

“Does that help?”

You can use silence as a doorway to stillness. Hang out in the silence of nature. Even amongst roaring rivers or melodious birdsong, you will experience this silence and the stillness underneath it.

I have written two books that will show you easy methods to explore Presence. Obviously, they will be of immense help to you.

· Simply Serene – Four Amazingly Powerful Ways to Be Instantly Alert and at Peace
· Looking Deeply into Presence


Here’s the Cliff Note Version for Becoming Present

· First, get some silence.

· Go outdoors – somewhere peaceful. It needn’t be a national park. A city park will do – anywhere you have a spot of nature.

· Practice Owl Eyes – Lightly gaze at something in the distance. Keep your eyes resting there while you taken in as much of your peripheral vision to the right and left as you can.

Slowly, deeply breathe in your belly. Now, while maintaining all of this, take in your peripheral vision above and below. Do this for a few minutes. Your mind has quieted. You’ll notice you have moved into stillness. Yes?


What did you notice when you tried this? More peace I hope.

Practice every day.

Invest in Simply Serene and Looking Deeply into Presence for the full versions.

Smile.


Flow

Although Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the guru of flow, doesn’t talk about Presence in his books, his observations imply that you be present to get into the lovely state of flow. All of his strategies for experiencing flow, therefore, would be good for becoming present.

Being in flow may be the most important goal of my personal practices. When I am in flow, everything, well, flows. I live in Heaven.

You love flow, too. You’ve been there often.

I want getting into flow to be high on your list of things you want from your Deliberate Living Program.

(Read my article, The Delightful Magic of Flow, below.)


Resources to Guide Your Way

1. The Scent Of Green Papaya – I saw this film in the theatre when it came out. The first five minutes into it were some of the slowest in my movie watching life.

Then I got it, “Oh, this is about Presence.”

This Vietnamese film takes place in French Saigon.

With almost no dialog, a young servant, by simply cleaning and cooking, models how you can move in your world fully awake. It’s lovely. You will emerge from the experience as after a lovely meditation.

2. Eckhart Tolle has written several wonderful books on the subject and I recommend them as a starting point on the subject of presence.

1. A New Earth
2. Stillness Speaks
3. The Power of Now

Find them here.

3. Again, I recommend my two books Simply Serene and Looking Deeply into Presence for working with Presence vs. talking about it or explaining it.

4. Obviously, you can read books on Zen to get a feel for it.

See Fun Resource on Spirituality.


5. The poets have visited Presence often and written beautifully about it.

Mary Oliver is my favorite. Invest in her books so you can dip into them when you want. Her books plus The Sound of Water, a book of haiku, reside by my bed. Find some books here.

Google Mary Oliver Poems – read some. Then invest in her books.

Browse the poetry books and poems I have posted in Poetry and Cool Ideas section.

Also here – Poetry of Life for titles.