Fault-finding can be a habit, but so can approaching life with gratitude. We need only intend to be grateful and then train ourselves to look for the good. Soon, we notice more to be thankful for.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
The practice of gratitude supports us in leading a life that is content, peaceful and filled with joy. It is easy to find fault with ourselves, with others or with situations. Our daily practice of meditation teaches us to observe our mind. When we notice those negative thoughts or maybe we are around people who are complaining about something, we can notice what we are feeling. When we notice negative thoughts, we can pause and decide to change our thoughts. When we notice fault finding, we can change those thoughts by looking at what we are finding fault with and either find something to be grateful for in that situation or person or turn our thoughts to something completely different and be grateful for that. As we do that more and more it becomes a habit. We begin to feel better about our life and those around us. Intend to be grateful.
Situations don’t define us. We define them.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
After we have been meditating regularly for a while, we acquire a good deal of control over the contents of our mind. First we become aware of the thoughts that arise and fall away, then we are able to choose those we nurture. We can look at life in a more positive way, choosing to define how we want our life to be. This is the path to freedom.
Meditation is easy and natural. We can make it difficult by trying too hard, having unrealistic expectations, or approaching it haphazardly, but at its core, meditation is simply being awake and aware — mindful.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian from The Jewel of Abundance:Finding Prosperity Through the Ancient Wisdom of Yoga.
We often hear students say that they are frustrated with their practice because they can't seem to turn off the thoughts. Others may ask what is meditation supposed to feel like. Many think that they can't meditate because of the myriad thoughts that keep them distracted while they are sitting and they quit trying. As we sit in meditation on a regular basis and stay alert and aware, we begin to notice that we don't need to struggle to keep our attention on our point of focus. Watch for the shift from concentration into meditation. Yogacharya O'Brian tells us "When attention becomes steady, it begins to flow; no effort is required to hold it on point....Awareness flows, and expands, in a steady stream. It is peaceful and effortless."
When daily meditation and conscious activity work together in our lives, the line that separates them grows thin. Our life becomes our meditation.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
The choices we make during the day influence our meditation practice and our practice is reflected in our life experience. We can harness the tools of discipline and focused intentionality to improve both and benefit from this virtuous cycle. Life becomes more fulfilling as we curb the randomness of unconscious desire with joyful choice.
Daily meditation builds an inner fire of spiritual energy that grows stronger as it is tended. This inner fire burns away the dross of laziness, restlessness, and confusion.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Our life energy grows stronger with our daily practice of meditation. We are guided to do, think and speak in ways that are supportive of our own lives and to the lives of those around us. We feel better about our life. Our inner peace and contentment grows and radiates out from us. Positive people and circumstances will be attracted to us. We are more positively energized and are able to cope more easily with life's difficulties. Our laziness, restlessness and confusion fall away. Look around you and become more conscious of the positive effects of your meditation practice. Enjoy!
When cultivating awareness of joy becomes a regular practice, joy will arise later in the day on its own. Like rays of the sun breaking through the clouds, you’ll find joy shining through your heart and your mind, radiating through your smile.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Our essential nature is joy, and a regular meditation practice can provide access to this joy when we meditate daily for as little as eight to ten weeks. We begin with short glimpses of peaceful joy and as time goes on we can return to this with just one conscious breath. Let your consciousness expand with gratitude and joy throughout the day because like attracts like. Don't waste your energy dwelling in the negative. Live in joy and share that with others.
Peace in our homes, community, and world begin with a vision of it, faith in it, and the commitment to realize it by working for it. Bring forth the light of peace by first experiencing it directly in meditation, and then transmit that divine peace to others.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
As we move into a new year, we often reflect on the year that has passed and what we would like to see in the new year. Most of us would agree that we want peace in our homes, in our families and in our world. The best way that we can experience that is to cultivate peace within our own hearts. Then we radiate that peace outwardly to all of those we encounter. It is a natural energy that we just allow to flow. We experience moments of peace — feeling all is well — each day when we are sitting in meditation. We don't just meditate to meditate. We don't just meditate for ourselves. Meditation is not for our benefit only; it is for the benefit of the whole world. Imagine if every person in the world meditated and could manage their fear, anger and frustration and were able to emanate peace from their hearts. What a world this would be!
Change your thoughts if you wish to change your circumstances. Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them. You will want to change them when you realize that each thought creates according to its own nature.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
After we have been meditating for a while, we become very conscious of thoughts as they arise and fall away in the mental field. We come to realize that many of those thoughts are not very useful. Since the universe responds to our thoughts, why not replace thoughts of fear and of lack with gratitude for the many gifts we enjoy. Then the universe will respond in kind with full support for our helpful endeavors. It's up to us.
Like a well-tended field, a life of happiness grows from the careful work of cultivating contentment.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
This past year I have been working on cultivating contentment, meaning that I am trying to be consciously aware of all that I have and all that I am grateful for, and that I don't need more. Recently I had a moment of deep peace and contentment, in of all places, a busy shopping center parking lot. I had just had a nice visit with my aging aunt and I was on my way to a bookstore where Yogacharya O'Brian was going to be speaking. I stopped in a shopping center to get a quick bite of dinner. As I was going back to my car I had a moment of feeling that everything was right with the world. I was happy that I live in such a beautiful area of the world, that I am close to family and friends and that I have opportunities to learn and grow from learned teachers. It was just a moment, but I noticed it and let it sink in. We all have these moments in our lives. In this busy holiday season, it is easy to get overwhelmed and stressed. It is easy to think about what we don't have or how we would like things to be. It is easy to focus on the negative. Our meditation practice gives us moments of peacefulness, where we let go of all desire and can just be in the moment. Notice how that feels and then notice those peaceful moments that reappear throughout the day. The more we are aware of those grateful moments, the more we will experience them and the more we will feel alright with the world. It is a peaceful, happy place to be. May you have many moments of "parking lot contentment."
True generosity nourishes us and those around us. When we follow the inspiration of generosity, there is always enough.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
The key to prosperity consciousness is that abiding fullness that we reach in meditation, but our daily mental habits are also important. When we make the choice to focus our attention on what we have, rather than what is lacking, we attract more. Generosity is the sharing of our inner fullness using tangible objects or simply kindness. When we show generosity, we are the prime beneficiaries and prosperity naturally follows.
The mind is restless and hard to master; but by constant practice and detachment it can be mastered in the end.
~Bhagavad Gita 6:35
This scripture from the east was written about two thousand years ago and even then the sages who wrote it understood that we all have trouble overcoming our busy mind when we try to master it through meditation. Their instruction is the same instruction we give today, because it is the guidance that works. This scripture gives us great promise. We can master the mind through our regular practice and also with detachment, detachment from the expectation that our meditation practice should go in a certain way, allowing and trusting that whatever comes or doesn't come that day is useful. Be persistant, it works.
Meditate regularly, and you will find a joy inside that is real. You will then have something you can compare to sense pleasures.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
In our contemporary society, we are subject to advertisements that encourage us to pursue short term pleasure rather than lasting joy. Meditation lets us experience what is both real and lasting: the latent bliss that is our true nature. Our steady daily meditation practice transforms us and this practice should be judged not by what occurs during meditation, but by the radiant quality of life that comes from it.
We may fail to notice our own contentment if we get too busy chasing after things.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
One of the basic things that we want in this life is to be happy. We want a lasting happiness, not just a fleeting moment. Lasting happiness is contentment. It is not just those "up" times that are fun. It is a deep joy that pervades our being. We may think that "if I get that thing or that relationship then I will be happy". The things or situations we desire are nice, but they are not the source of our happiness because they always change. We have that deep joy, that contentment now, in this present moment. Our meditation practice reveals it to us. When the mind quiets, we notice what it is like to just "be". Slow down, take the time, notice your innate happiness, notice your innate contentment.
Success is hastened or delayed by one’s habits. It is not your passing inspirations or brilliant ideas so much as your everyday mental habits that control your life.
~Paramahansa Yogananda
A consistent daily meditation practice gives us the mental self awareness to judge our thoughts and speech as they arise and to make necessary adjustments. When we let less useful thoughts and speech fall away we avoid negative consequences and attract only the support that positive speech and actions naturally acquire. What we experience as success comes from the harmony of our actions with a supportive universe. Success begins with meditation.
Have you imagined that meditation is stopping all thoughts? That is like trying to stop the wind. Let the wind be, while you take shelter in the stillness of the Self. Thoughts may continue but they need not disturb you or interrupt your meditation. The wind doesn't blow all day. Eventually it quiets down. Give no regard to thought activity and it will subside.
~Ellen Grace O'Brian from her book Living for the Sake of the Soul
When we first begin our meditation practice most of us think that our thoughts should be completely eliminated. We get frustrated when they aren't and that frustration may stop our practice. What we don't realize is that our thoughts are a part of us and don't completely go away, but they subside with our regular meditation practice. We learn not to notice them and allow them to pass by. It is like clouds in the sky. The clouds are the thoughts but we are focusing on the clear stillness of the sky. The thought activity will subside. Be patient.
Solve all your problems through meditation.
Lahiri Mahasaya
Meditation is the single most important practice we can employ to transform our awareness and equip ourselves to handle life's challenges. A steady devoted meditation practice transforms who we are and improves our relationship with all those around us. So when faced with a significant problem, begin with meditation. Then we find it easier to do the right thing one step at a time and finally, release expectations about outcomes.
Our purpose in life is not what we do; it is how we do it. It is what we bring forth, what we express as we do what is ours to do.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Many of us are disturbed by the upheaval in our country and in our world. We are disturbed by the divisions among us. We think that we should do something to help alleviate the suffering and the unhappiness but we don't know what to do that would make a difference. As this quote from Yogacharya O'Brian tells us, it is not what we do, but how we do it that makes the difference. A famous quote attributed to Mother Teresa says "Not all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great love." It doesn't take much to contribute to a more peaceful, just society. All we have to do be kind to each other. Smile at the person you pass on the street. Don't get angry when someone says something that disturbs you, but offer a silent blessing to them. Be grateful, even for small things. Offer a service to a sick friend. Something that we do at the end of our meditation practice is to offer that peaceful energy out into the rest of our day and to those we will encounter. Be kind, be thankful. Offer your peaceful energy to all you meet.
One of the most persistent obstacles we encounter to our own happiness, peace, and well-being is our tendency to argue with the way things are. Acceptance brings freedom and unleashes our power.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
Our daily meditation practice makes us keen observers of our own minds. When we notice the emergence of anger, resentment or fear, we can exercise the power of letting these thoughts fall away and cultivate positive replacements. This is particularly useful with the counter-productive habit of resenting things as they are. We can waste a lot of energy in resentment, or merely let this negative emotion fall away and then take productive steps to deal with the situation as best we can. Meditation opens the path to this freedom.
Decide to consider yourself successful right now, then build on that each day.
~Yogacharya Ellen Grace O'Brian
We may be in the habit of telling stories about ourselves that aren't true—stories that say we are not good enough. Those stories may have started in our childhood. We heard those stories for many reasons. Sometimes it was from our religious, societal or family upbringing. Often we heard that we need to be humble. That version of humility said that we were less than... which is not true. The truth of our being is that we are everything that we want to be already. All we have to do is realize and accept that truth. Accepting that truth frees us to be the person we are meant to be, to do the work we are meant to do. Accepting that truth serves the greater good. Our meditation practice frees our mind to see the truth. Affirm that truth and build on it.
To expect mundane events, circumstances, or relationships to provide us with peace of mind and soul-satisfaction is to invite eventual disappointment and discontentment because all outer conditions are changeable and impermanent.
~Roy Eugene Davis
Meditation and harmonious living offer us a way out of this dilemma. A steady meditation practice puts us in touch with the inner peace and joy that is our true nature. Daily immersion in the peace of meditation then gives us an inner harmony that can survive these changing circumstances. As we redirect our activities to serve the greater good, meditation becomes easier because there are fewer causes of disturbance in the mind. The peace of meditation allows us to live our lives with greater equanimity.
