Kindness is magic. So are dolphins and mermaids. I hope you looked for and found the magic in your life today,
How much of it is your effort?
Give 100% to your endeavor of choice. Let go of the results. Everything is manifest by divine timing and grace. Don’t give up the effort but give up the attachment to the results. Intuit the right action to take and then take it. You can’t always see the big picture. Just know you are doing the right thing and keep moving forward. Keep your gaze between the eyebrows in meditation. Also known as the third eye, star of the East, inner eye, eye of intuition, Kutastha (Christ or Krishna consciousness center (insert your God of choice)) center, ajna chakra.
Basically it is out of our hands. Some days the stars are in alignment for everything to flow effortlessly and somedays you hit endless road blocks. Do everything you do in honor of the God or your super soul with love and be confident and joyous in your efforts.
Life is supposed to be fun. If the maya or your motion picture brings you the opposite of fun, remember you are here to make your way back to God Head? to be part of God’s play? To give and receive love? I’m not sure of the answer, but I like all of these. If you have a better answer let me know.
In your self realization, it is said that it is 25% you, 25% your Guru and 50% God, that gets you there.
Eventually you will see this when you gaze at your spiritual eye in meditation.
Animal skins for a meditation mat
Have you noticed pictures of Yogis of olden times meditating on animal skins, like deer or tiger? Paramahansa Yogananda told his followers to meditate sitting on a wool blanket. The reason is that it insulates you from the the downward pull of subtle earth currents. You seldom hear about this being mentioned in modern day yoga classes. I wonder if rubber yoga mats have the same effect as an animal skin?
I’ve also read that if you are celibate you can meditate on a tiger skin, because you have conquered your lower nature. Otherwise you would use a deer skin which helps keep the ants and snakes off (if your in the forest) and keeps you warmer in cold weather .
In Hinduism, Lord Shiva is often depicted wearing a tiger skin and sitting on one. Symbolically this means that he is the beyond all powers and controls all powers.
In kundalini yoga, Yogi Bhajan also recommends a sheepskin for meditating. He says it insulate the yogi from the magnetic pull of the earth.
All of the above animal should have transitioned of natural causes. I myself will meditate on a wool blanket.
I love these paintings. They date back to between 1811 to 1868. Maybe 200 years from now people will look at my yoga paintings with my cats and think you are supposed to practice yoga with cats . Haha
Start your day on the right food
When you wake up in the morning stay lying in bed, be grateful for the new day, tense and relax each muscle in your body. Start at your feet, left foot then right foot, left calf then right calf and work all the way up to the crown of your head. Focus and send life force energy to each of part of the body. When you are finished stretch like a cat and activate your whole body. Give thanks for the new day. When you are sitting on the edge of your bed about to put your feet on the floor. Before you do, give thanks to Mother Earth. Appreciate her and ask her for her forgiveness because you are about to put your feet on her. Lovingly place your right foot on the floor then your left. Drink a big glass of lukewarm water with fresh lemon squeezed in it, for a good organ cleanse and meditate. This is the best way for me to start my day on the right foot.
Favorite pictures of the day
sunset
Birch on the pagoda
“It’s better to see God in everything than to try to figure it out.” Neem Karoli Baba
I liked doing quotes from Yogananda yesterday. I thought I would do a quote from Anandamayi Ma today but I ended up with a quote from Neem Karoli Baba. He is Krishna Das’s and Ram Das’s Guru. They call him Maharajji. Anandamayi Ma is a Saint Yogananda met. He talks about her in his book Autobiography of a Yogi.
“It’s better to see God in everything than to try to figure it out.” Neem Karoli Baba
To be honest one of the reasons I liked this quote was because it was short, and of course it is something that resonates with me. I often get caught up in the rules, rituals, regulations, the math and science of it all. All of that has its place but its not the most important thing. The main thing is Love. If you see God in everything you will love everyone and everything. Look for the best in everyone. Know that everyone has a spirit soul inside of them that is connected with God. Don’t love in expectation of its return value. Just love and give it freely to all. That is a real gift to yourself also. You can’t make anyone except your love or believe it, but you can always have kind thoughts and wishes for them.
Pictures of the day:
Neem Karoli Baba
Anandamayi Ma
A Smile is prettier than a frown.
I ran around like a crazy woman today and didn’t feel very grounded, but I feel really good about what I got accomplished. Now the trick is remain present while accomplishing the days assignments in a state of serene joy.
My routine is to meditate when I wake up and before I go to bed. Tonight I decided to meditate before writing this because my energy was all over the place. Yogananda says to never say you are tired. I’ve been searching for the exact quote and the reasons why but I haven’t found them yet. My thoughts are that words are powerful and Source energy is flowing threw us in a powerful way. Hence saying “I am tired” puts a kink in the flow of energy. He said you can say, my body needs a rest. This is ok to say because we are not the body. We are the spirit soul incased in a body suit of flesh and bones.
When I was searching for Paramahnsa Yogananda’s quote on tiredness. I found some of these other great quotes from him about energy.
“A genuine smile distributes the cosmic current, Prana to every body cell. The happy man is less subject to disease, for happiness actually attracts into the body a greater supply of the Universal life energy.”
“Incredible amounts of energy are hidden in your brain; enough in a gram of flesh to run the city of Chicago for 2 days. And you say you are tired?”
“Conserve the vital energy, follow a balanced diet, and always smile and be happy. He who finds joy within himself discovers that his body is charged with electric current, life energy, not from food but from God. If you feel that you can’t smile, stand before a mirror and with your fingers pull your mouth into a smile. It is that important!”
“He who finds joy within himself discovers that his body is charged with electric current, life energy, not from food but from God.”
“The greater the will, the greater the flow of energy.”
I love these. They inspire me to remember to be joyous. Not only does it feel good, it makes me healthier and more ready for Universal energy to flow threw me. I always want to search for the most positive angle of every situation. If nothing else works, I can use my fingers to pull my mouth into a smile. And a smile is prettier than a frown.
Favorite pictures of the day
East Coast Sunset (What?) and Ranunculus they are ridiculously beautiful
“Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light ” Yogi Bhajan
I was organizing my prints today and I made a stack of my older first try prints. I decided not to throw them out, maybe I could make something cool with them. I was reluctantly to leave the room because I had half organized stacks of prints all over the place and a cat observing curiously. But I had to go anyway. When I came back 15 minutes later, the stack of old prints had been thrown up on. My first reaction was not such nice words to my cat but then I laughed. I have such a hard time throwing things out and moving on. The universe or cat was just helping me out. Coincidence or miracle? Just a little helping hand to let go and lighten up. I have so much clutter. It was nice to throw something out and make space for the new. I aspire to this quote from Yogi Bhajan
“Travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light.”
Whenever I take a load of stuff to good will, I stumble upon the best sale and get an upgrade and more relevant stuff. Not that I need stuff, but some of it can be helpful and fun in daily life. Sometimes it can make my life easier so I can spend more time focused on what is most important to me. I really find this laws of karma to be true. The more I give the more I receive. Whether it be friendship, love, kindness etc. Giving without any expectation of the outcome is the gift. To give love is to be love and feel love. You can’t control how others behave, you can control how you feel in your heart and how you share that with others.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dr2Q2P4A8pE
Here are my favorite 2 pictures of the day. Delilah watching me and the squirrels in the yard.
This turtle I found in my house and brought it back outside to the magical mermaid pond. I’m guessing the cats brought her inside? That protective shell really works , Yeah!
Ever New Bliss is the reality
Check : I did a yoga asana practice today. I said I would do it in yesterday’s post. It makes me feel good to do what I say. It builds will power. If you always tell the truth then everything you say comes true. I’m working on it. Also I’m practicing kindness. I want to always look for and see the best in everyone. You get what you look for. I’m setting my goals and focusing on them. To be the best me I can be, I will surround myself with good beings. Fill myself with good thoughts and input. Read high minded books or listen to them. For my spiritual community, I surround myself with thoughts of God and the great Saints and Gurus. They are with me always. I listen to Wisdom of the Sages podcast and read the Gita and lessons from Paramahansa Yogananda. I aspire to eat healthy and clean. I’m trying to set myself up for the highest living that I can allow in. I can do my best in joy and release the results because by the Grace of God is the way everything happening. There is Karmic law but by meditation and God’s Grace anything is possible. Keep your mind on God, chant japa, focus your gaze on your third eye (the Christ or Krishna consciousness center (your choice of Divinity)), meditate, do everything in service to the Lord in joy. Joy is so important. If we do our actions in anger, we are leaving anger stink bombs in the atmosphere. To paraphrase Yogananda. A Saint who is sad is a sad Saint. But for real, have you ever seen a sad spiritual leader. Look how joyous the Dali Lama is. When you connect with source in meditation you experience ever new bliss. That is the reality. Our day to day life is the dream.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xgc-FIoLcXQ
I’m Actually going to try to make my website work.
I’m rebuilding my website with print on demand products, then it can take off without me freaking out. Every time I’ve gotten an order thus far, I stop everything to fill it. After I’ve mailed the package, I can breath again. Emotionally I don’t think I was ready to make it big yet, because of the anxiety orders gave me. By the way, I am totally grateful and appreciate for every order. I just get super excited. Like a doggy that wets itself when it see a beloved friend. Now with print on demand, they will print and deliver my products and I can concentrate on the art work. At the moment, I’m concentrating on the web site which can be mind blowing. I hope and pray if I continue to chip away at it, I will figure it out and make a successful business which supports the kitties and me. A steady source of income is a big sigh of relief. The universe has been helping me with her supply of Angels and miracles. I am so thankful. I’m trying to find the balance between my nature of forcing things to happen and allowing them to happen. When I force, I just get mad and really it’s not productive. But when I allow the magic of the Universe, Everything falls into place naturally….. Thank you Powers that Be. Here are some goals I’m setting : a daily blog, tiktok (when I figure it out), Youtube shorts, and instagram posts and maybe facebook too. I’m really trying to do the right thing and put myself out there and advertise. If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does anyone hear it. If I build a website and no one knows about it, what’s the point. I’ve been trying to learn from youtube videos about marketing and print on demand. It is a foreign language to me. But again I have faith and if I keep trying, I will get it.
thank you world and God
I must practice yoga tomorrow !
I’m working on how to make a coupon for free shipping and a percentage of to offer you. I might need to update something for it to work(?) 🙂
https://youtube.com/shorts/0aQFkaWqfPY?feature=share
Here is Delilah helping me write this blog.
Here is the first day I got Delilah, June 24,2019
