Tag Archives: focus

Illucidations, Tools for Evolution

Your Conversation with The Universe

Everything you experience, from your waking life, dreams, and other states of consciousness, is “the Universe” talking to you.  Your response in moment  to moment choices, conscious or otherwise, is you talking to “the Universe”.

A simple statement, perhaps, but within it are some very profitable concepts.

What do I mean by “The Universe”?  In this case, I mean “All That Is”. I could say “God”, but I would mean “All That Is”. What if what you’re experiencing is unpleasant or painful?   You would then have to examine the choices you made to be at that place and that time. Then use that as a lesson. Make choices which allow you to express a more enhanced version of yourself. Make changes in yourself. That is you responding to “The Universe”.

Mental and emotional experiences are as real as physical experiences, and mental and emotional choices are as significant as physical choices. You can take advantage of this by using your imagination, your creation slate,  to experience things more in line with a more enhanced version of yourself, whatever you decide that to be. Bottom line, focus your consciousness where you want it to be. Add focus time (chosen experience) where you want to learn and grow.

Take/make 2 experiences and call me in the morning.  🙂

Seymour Lovejoy

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Illucidations, Perspectives, Steps

Steps

Steps are phases of focus. The term “minutes of focus” has been used by proponents of focus, and often their sales, like “10 minutes of focus a day will create a new you”. I like to use it as a measurement of where you spend your time… as in, “Rate your activities in ‘Minutes Of Focus’, or “MOF’s.”, if you will. It’s a simple way to categorize, quantify or measure what you have experienced, i.e. by accumulated duration. The directions of focus measured in minutes of focus, when placed in order by total, as a report, will be a clear indicator of the personality you have accumulated to the present.

Then, of course, you can choose a new set for the future.

Before I started writing this, I decided to google the term “Minutes of Focus” and found a site for the book “Focus Manifesto” (http://focusmanifesto.com/) that has a Zen approach to a calm, creative lifestyle. It appears to be very clear, as one might expect from thousands of MOFs in Zen practice.

This begins a series of blog entries under the category of “Steps”. These can be steps forward, back, or to the side, mine and those of others, mankind even, factual or conceptual. I hesitate to label anything as a step forward or backward, proffering an opinion, as it were, but generally I would consider peaceful creative living, love and compassion as forward, and warring, hateful injurious activities as backward. But, hey, the world is unlimited in expression, and, of course, there’s the old saying “10 million idiots can’t be wrong”. I would hesitate to call anyone an idiot (unless,  perhaps it’s referencing a clinical condition) because even an idiot, has a large number of MOF’s in some category and could be considered highly experienced and very knowledgeable in that category, all things being equal. And we’ve all been “idiots” and we still dabble in “idiocy” on occasion. Right?

Seymour Lovejoy

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Illucidations, Perspectives, Tools for Evolution

Where’s your focus?

Based upon what we’ve individually achieved, it seems rather apparent that in order to accomplish anything, a certain amount of focus is required, i.e. time focused upon an activity, cycles of repetition, learning, training the subconscious in the direction of our goal, getting to the point of adeptness where your subconscious takes care of the details and, humorously, not as much conscious focus is required! Like walking.

However as my Tai Chi Teacher, David Cheng, said, “Whenever you do anything, do it with consciousness”. He gave the example, “When you’re driving, just drive.” as opposed to listening to the radio, talking or thinking about something else. Doing things with consciousness is being “the watcher”, watching yourself do what you’re doing, and watching the thoughts that pop in, recognizing thoughts that are guidance, and using that guidance to enhance your activities.

OK, so we have this faculty of awareness that we can focus to accomplish things. What do you want to focus on? What do you want? … As opposed to need. Need is another topic.

If we’re talking about what you want, we’re talking about a value system. What do you value? What is most important and what is less important. Your whole life rotates about what you give importance, and the beauty is that it’s configurable. If we give “spirituality” a high value, then “Divine Will” and being of service to All That Is become a focus. The Teachers say that Divine Will is, simply, that All That Is be enhanced. So as instruments of Divine Will, creative delegates, our job is to enhance our lives and the lives of others, thus enhancing All That Is. It’s doable by anyone and everyone in the moment, and on the big stage we call life.  In fact, if all you do is appreciate and be kind to others, and appreciate life and all it has to offer, you will have added great value to the world.

A values system is the DNA of your life. I suggest that the most efficient and beneficial primary value for one’s lifetime is to enhance life itself — your life and the lives of others, from individual atoms and cells to the whole and beyond. This benefits you and the world. Let that be your primary mission and the primary criterion for your choices and actions. Then create and do things within that structure.

But for efficiency’s sake, take the shortest path to your goals. The Taoists say “Do by not doing”, i.e. use the minimum effort necessary to accomplish the task, or, at an esoteric level, create the environment where it manifests itself. The Evergreens talk about “protocol”, i.e. the necessary steps to accomplish something, and advise us to create a path minimizing those steps, by not assuming you have to go through a, b, and c to get to d, and by not imposing an expectation of difficulty in any of those steps. If you connect with your guides and trust in your moment-to-moment intuitive guidance, you can ride first class on a luxury jet from a to d rather than walk barefoot through the desert. The right doors will open at the right time and you’ll know to walk through. Similarly, the Hindu concept of Advaita Vedanta suggests that by putting your consciousness at the goal, you will be there. All good advice. Take the luxury jet. Be joyful and watch and listen. Make sense?

Seymour Lovejoy

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Tools for Evolution

Take the 21-day Challenge

The Teachers tell us that we live under the Law of Dominance, but that our focus should be Self-Dominance. An interesting word, “dominance”… The Latin word for Lord or Master or Teacher is “Dominus”.  “Lord” and “Master” connote control, and a teacher is one who has controlled him/herself sufficiently to learn something well enough to teach it, and one who studies longer can get a “Master’s” degree. Our task is to quantify the quality “human”, i.e. enhance humanity through self-enhancement, through self-dominance, i.e. self-training, i.e. learning something, incorporating something new into our life. It’s an act of creation, which takes focus and repetition, hence, the 21-day challenge.

You have probably heard the joke about the person asking for directions in New York City, “How do I get to Carnegie Hall?”, and the response was “Practice!”. So it is with self-enhancement. It’s been said that human entrainment takes 21 days, so by repeating something 21 days in a row (with sufficient focus) we can incorporate it into our consciousness . So I say to you, “Take the 21-day Challenge”. Repeat something beneficial for 21 days and notice the difference in your life.

My guru, Gurudeva Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, taught that the 5 steps or levels of inner focus are 1) attention, 2) concentration, 3) meditation, 4) contemplation, 5) samadhi. Regardless of the application chosen, the 21-day Challenge helps you build focus, confidence and inner capacities.

For instance, repeat to yourself “I’m watching” throughout the day, continuing to do what you’re doing, but taking about a second to observe what you’re thinking, your attitude, and what you’re doing. No judging, just observing.

Another idea is to always leave a room cleaner or more organized than it was when you entered.

Another is to think of yourself radiating love and joy like a light bulb, everywhere you go, everyone being warmed and blessed by your presence.

Hint: Mark the days on a calendar. Writing is often the 1st physical step in the manifestation process of creation.

What 21-day challenge will inspire you?

–Seymour Lovejoy

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Tools for Evolution

Two Hats

We’re familiar with the concept of wearing two hats, i.e. taking different perspectives and performing different functions as appropriate to the situation. Suppose the two hats are your functions for your outer life and your inner life. Generally our outer life progresses and we do what we have to do to live as we expect to live. But there’s another world. You can put on an inner hat and be the watcher, the awarer, not reacting, just obvserving.

My teacher, David Cheng, taught, “Do everything with consciousness. When you drive, do it consciously.” Be the watcher as you drive. Put your focus there. Be cognizant of all that is happening. Be the watcher as you walk around doing your daily tasks.  Be the watcher as you think. Observe your responses.

The word “dimension” means, basically, two outlooks. Are you ready to add another dimension to your life? Another perspective? Another stream of information?

–Seymour Lovejoy

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Tools for Evolution

Ritual = Focus

An expert is, by definition, one who has accumulated and integrated within oneself a certain amount of experience in a particular category. In order to become an expert you have to focus on something. It’s the same with meditation. You’re focusing on something to extract information from wherever it resides.

The word “ritual” is often associated with religious or spiritual activities, but, in truth, anything which we choose to do on a regular basis could be considered a ritual. Try this for an eye-opener: make lists of the things that you do regularly, i.e. annually, monthly, weekly, daily. Then examine each one, why you repeat it, and reconsider its worthiness beyond maintaining a tradition. Are they things that you, personally, want to continue to do? Choose what you want to be an expert at, and repeat those things.

The Teachers tell us that we each have a “source group”, essentially guardian angels who do what they can to guide us behind the scenes, assisting us in our growth, our health, our prosperity, IF we listen. They can’t interfere or make us do things but they can and do communicate. The Teachers recommend that we initiate conversations and expect responses. The responses can be thoughts that seem to pop into our heads, or things that we see as we live our daily lives that stand out as unusual, such as realizations, inspirations or “aha moments”.

My daily ritual includes thanking all my teachers, including the Temple Teachers, my guides, and the Universe itself, and requesting their input. Results: I’m inspired daily, I arrive at the right place at the right time, I get the answers I need when I need them. The Teachers tell us time and again that our guides and source group are here to help us and, in fact, their progress is dependent on ours, even to the extent that we are encouraged to demand assistance and expect it. But remember, you have to act upon the information you receive to enhance your life.

What do you think life would be like if you had a team of expert advisors always giving input, and you took their advice?

–Seymour Lovejoy

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