#62: Consciousness and Gratitude

From the Publisher…

The spiritual journey is about expanding our consciousness from subconscious to superconscious and beyond to the Divine. Feeling grateful is one of the most powerful tools we have for this because gratitude is closely aligned to love and God is love.

Features

The Power of Superconsciousness – Where Does Creativity Come From?

Legend has it that JK Rowling got a “download” of the entire Harry Potter series while riding a train. The whole dang thing just hit her like a bolt out of the blue, right into her noggin. That’s the power of the superconscious mind!

What Is True Spiritual Experience?

The yogi’s fervent aspiration is to experience the Real, the Truly Existent. So immediately he is confronted with the crucial question: What is true spiritual experience? This must be answered lest he wander for future lifetimes through delusional experiences he mistakes for realities.

We Need Reminders that We Aren’t Alone

So often we feel alone, unsupported, or unloved by an indifferent universe. We need reminders to show us that we are never alone, but are ever embraced by a loving, benevolent God. Recently I read a story and received two letters that helped me remember this reassuring reality.

Opening Your Heart to Gratitude – What Science and Spirituality Say

Both modern scientific research and ancient spiritual teachings tell us of the power of gratitude to transform ourselves and our lives. But is it really so easy? Here are some ways to overcome common obstacles to gratitude and reap the proven benefits.

33 Quotes on Gratitude – What Famous People Tell Us

One of my favorite collections of inspiring sayings. We can use them to remind us how we can use the simple practice of being grateful to bring joy and abundance into our lives.

Balancing Air with Earth: Essential Steps for True Happiness

Walking on the earth and bringing in the air element takes a delicate dance in our daily practice. In many respects floating throughout our days can feel wonderful, yet it may set the stage for challenges within our life journey.

What Is Christ Consciousness?

The concept of Christ Consciousness needs to be understood as a universal truth. Despite the name, the fact of Christ Consciousness transcends Christianity, Hinduism, and every other religion.

The Mind in Meditation

People have all kinds of ideas about meditation and about how the mind will disappear into nothingness; about how the mind will go into a trance; or perhaps how meditation involves controlling the mind in some way. None of these descriptions adequately cover it.

Practicum

God-Remembrance: Affirmation and Prayer for Self-Healing

Use this deep insight into the spiritual quality of “God-Remembrance,” affirmation and prayer by Swami Kriyananda to experience what we in truth: bliss infinite, eternal love.

How to Experience Cosmic Consciousness

Visualization and Affirmations for attuning ourselves to Cosmic Consciousness

The Vow of Superconscious Living

Superconscious Living is an extremely interesting system for approaching the spiritual life in a way that can be applied to every aspect of our life. It’s a unified theory of spiritual living. Here it is in a nutshell.

Practicing Gratitude as a Family

Practicing gratitude together is one of the best things you can do for your children. Here’s one way that worked for a friend and a list of benefits specific to families.

Cloud Colored Christ

This simple, but powerful chant helps draw the universal, omnipresent Christ Consciousness to us. Sing along deeply, and you too can use it to invoke the presence of Jesus Christ and dive deep into soul-consciousness during this sacred time.

Guided Meditation Finding Peace and Harmony within Yourself

Ganesha leads us in a prayer, chant, visualization, and meditation to feel in ourselves the peace and harmony that’s there all the time. He ends with a healing prayer to send what we have received out to all the world.

Guided Meditation on Expanding Your Consciousness

Ultimately our consciousness is infinite. It’s only at this stage of our development that we feel confined to a body and personality. But meditation will help us go beyond that into our infinite reality.

Columns

Zen Habits: Live on Purpose

So often we drift through our lives, doing what we have to or from habit. But what would it be like to live with purpose? To have meaning in our work, and to structure our lives with that purpose in mind, and with the most meaningful relationships and activities?

From an Engineering Perspective: The Path to Happiness

When I analysed the steps forward and backwards on the spiritual path that I followed during this life, it occurred to me that it all had to do with achieving a feeling of being proud, a feeling of achieving, and by doing this, a feeling of happiness.

In every issue

Poet’s Corner: Expand My Consciousness in the Cosmic Sound: A Poem by Paramhansa Yogananda

A prayer to experience the Divine Presence as the cosmic song of AUM.

Inspiration: Two Most Important Questions Every Spiritual Seeker Needs to Ask

Many people suffer from the same fundamental mistake (which is the basic delusion of maya) that makes them think that happiness can be obtained by changing something outside themselves. They rarely ask these two most important questions.

Inspiration: Nature. Beauty. Gratitude. A Talk and Film.

his TED Talk includes a short film on Gratitude and Happiness. Brother David Steindl-Rast’s spoken words, Gary Malkin’s musical compositions and Louie Schwartzberg’s cinematography make this a stunningly beautiful piece, reminding us of the precious gift of life and the beauty all around us.

Stories from the Heart: In the Temple of the ER

I love to meditate in public places. I was open to pray for anyone in the large, crowded waiting room. I was surprised that Her love seemed directed mostly to a young man with a big Gothic gang tattoo across the shaved back of his head.

Stories from the Heart: Running a Successful Business By Giving Our Labors to God

True stories from a longtime electrical contractor about running and growing his business while desiring more time for his spiritual practices. But what did God want? Fascinating accout of living your spirituality in the real world.

Inspiring Quotes to Ponder

Closing Blessing – May the Divine light awaken and purify your heart and bring enlightenment to all beings.