How To Find Yourself – Benefits of Advanced Meditation

When people think of meditation, they tend to think of relaxation and stress release, at least for the vast majority of the Western world.

But there is a lot more to meditation than simply sitting still.

It is important to be aware of the lesser known aspects and consequences of a naturally still mind.

Why is it important to know what a still mind experiences? 

Take a moment to think of the history of Western psychology. Is it not curious that we have made a science out of pathology and mental illness?

We have been so focused on what an imbalanced mind looks like with it’s cornucopia of anxieties, fears, syndromes and personality disorders that we have no idea what a balanced, clear and still mind looks like. 

You’ve heard of the old adage, “What we put attention to grows.” 

There are no wiser words said with regard to our fixation on mental illness. 

Instead of focusing on pathology we need to focus on clarity.

Meditation is far more than just sitting quietly as part of your morning power routine.

Meditation is transformation. It is spiritual alchemy.

Spiritual seekers from all creeds and belief structures eventually come upon meditation because it is like being called back home.

At some time or another, every person will come to ask themselves, “Why am I here?” “What is this world?” and ultimately, “Who am I?”

In order to answer these questions, one must go within and by within, I mean beyond the five outward facing senses.

Find yourself through meditation.

The Holiday Season – A Time For Self-Reflection

No matter what your religious views or spiritual beliefs, the holiday season offers us all a time of deep reflection and an opportunity to see another cycle come to a close.

Life is all about growth, constant change, and continual evolution in expansion of consciousness. As we come upon the last month of 2021 we have the opportunity to take the time to sit back and look closely at what we created this year and what we continue to create for ourselves now.

The Magic Of The Holiday Season

The magic of the holiday season is in the profound emotional effect it has on all of us. Whether one is rejoicing in gratitude or feeling low and despondent; we all know the power that the month of December can bring.

Emotions are a powerful tool for higher self-awareness exploration. When we tap into our feelings and emotions we acknowledge parts of ourselves that have gone hidden, were lost, or made to be silent.

As we start this month and look forward to our traditions and celebrations let us take personal inventory.

Where do you hold yourself back? Where are you not living to your fullest?

Some of you may have an immediate answer to this question. But others might struggle to answer this.

If you do struggle to answer this question, I’ll offer you a clue.

What do you find yourself complaining about most? Who or what is the target of your criticisms?

You may say, I don’t hold myself back – it’s other people, situations, and circumstances, that is the problem.

It is never the external circumstances that cause our suffering, it is always our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions that cause our suffering. All thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions can be changed. 

Challenging Your Old Programs

The process of spiritual evolution is one of wholeness, integration and realization. Only you can offer this to yourself.
As a spiritual teacher and mentor I often tell my client’s to stop looking to the world to change.

Stop looking to the world to validate you.

Stop looking to the world to acknowledge you.

Stop looking to the world to love you.

Let go of all the expectations you have of others, because unfulfilled expectations only cause suffering.

What you are in fact seeking is fulfillment. The kind of peace and bliss that is self-created, self-sustaining, and self-fulfilling. This is not a pipe dream, this is in fact the only lasting satisfactory source of bliss you can find.

The source is YOU and always has been you. You have only projected it unto people, objects, or circumstances making it appear as if these outside things are the source of your fleeting fulfillment. They never were.

If you are ready to discover how to create more joy, more bliss, more lasting fulfillment through the only source that you can control then you are ready to embark on a 90 day coaching transformation program with me. If you are tired of feeling trapped, confused, and stuck now is the time to give yourself the gift of self-transformation. 

Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate. – Carl Jung

Think clearly and deeply, go into the structure of your desires and their ramifications. They are a most important part of your mental and emotional make-up and powerfully affect your actions. Remember, you cannot abandon what you do not know. To go beyond yourself, you must know yourself. – Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Deeply investigating our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions can be a very cathartic, empowering, and uplifting process of self-discovery and exploration.

Give to yourself what you wish others would give you. 

As we enter this magical month give yourself some time to think about what you’ve created this year.

If you know it’s time to make some changes and are ready to let go of limiting beliefs please schedule a discovery call with me.

All Suffering Is Self-Created

We all know what suffering is. It can span the spectrum from mild anxiety and stress to extreme terror or grave depression. It is true that all human beings experience setbacks, disappointments and tragedies in life. No one is exempt from tasting all the flavors of this world.

Yet there are some people who are resiliant and overcome their hardships whereas others seem to be stuck in their misery and victimhood. Some people are able to attract good jobs, beautiful homes, kind friends, and maintain a healthy body where others accrue more debt, keep getting in trouble with the law, remain stuck in a rut, or live with chronic illness. There must be a reason why some people are able to transcend their suffering while others perpetuate it. What is the cause of all this?

It is widely known in Western psychology as well as in Eastern spirituality that the suffering we experience is because we believe our thoughts. It is our thought and belief of a person or situation that causes our pain and suffering; not the actual experience or person. This may sound like a radical notion but it is the foundation towards self-realization and personal empowerment.

Generally, mental and emotional healing come through greater self-awareness and understanding. In Western psychology the aim is to generate increased levels of self-awareness while learning coping mechanisms in order to reframe our past and current life circumstances. In coaching we uncover hidden limitations to an individual’s state of awareness and set actionable goals towards living a more fulfilling and satisfying life. In spiritual self realization we take responsibility for everything that has ever happened to us and use it as a catalyst towards discovering our true nature.   

Breaking The Unconscious Programming Of The Past

Many people grew up in chaotic, distressful and negative family environments and have lots of emotional wounds from their early life experiences. These life situations have left their mark on people and color their world in the way they percieve life. In many ways these individual’s unconsciously attract the same negative people, places, and things that they were once subjected to simply because they are unaware. These people are innocently unconscious and ignorant to their own programming and lack the self-awareness and clarity to seek an alternate way of living consciously in the world. Whether it is through counseling, therapy, coaching, or spiritual practice, there are proven ways in which an individual can break free from these repetitive karmic cycles.

In both Western psychology and Eastern spirituality, we can easily see how our external lives serve as a mirror to what is happening in our inner world. Thus, if one wants to know the inner nature of their mind all they need do is take an honest look at the life they are currently living. The players and characters in your world are mirrors of you. The circumstances we find ourselves in show us our current level of consciousness. The environment we live in illustrates our thoughts and emotions.

We alone determine how much or how little we get by what we feel we deserve. We are truly the creators of our own subjective reality and thus all of our happiness or suffering is completely self-created.      

This turning point in life is often the beginning of personal growth and possibly the spiritual path; one in which a human being no longer seeks external validation or approval from others but understands that lasting happiness and peace can only be found from within. There are no more victims and there are no more perpetrators. Only life circumstances by which we do our best with what we have. As we go within and acquire greater self-awareness and clarity of perception we see very clearly how the circumstances in our lives occur at the perfect time and place to offer help, assistance, guidance, lessons, alarms, and wake-up calls. If you are here reading this then perhaps you are ready to take responsibility for your thoughts and programming and consciously choose a more enhanced way of perceiviing and living life.

“All experiences facilitate the expansion of consciousness. There are no exceptions.” – Liz hancock

Learning To Accept The Present Moment As It Is

Life presents many situations for us to experience. Some of these are very challenging and extremely difficult. As we commit to greater self-awareness with Spiritual Life Coaching we know that accepting what is happening is the only way forward. We cannot change another person nor can we change what has happened to us and so we must let go of our expectations and allow the present moment to be what it is.

If you would like guidance and tools to help you navigate life’s ups and downs with grace and ease please click the button below to set up a discovery call. I look forward to working with you!

Feeling Fear In The Present Moment

Fear.

We all know it’s easy to be our best and brightest selves when life is easy; when our body works the way we want, when events go as planned, or when all our expectations are being met.

It’s easy to be that kind, caring, compassionate, person when everything goes our way.

But we all know that life doesn’t always work like this. Sometimes we are met with circumstances that are out of our control and suddenly things take a turn for the worse.

We’ve all been there.

But when things go wrong and we think that life should be giving us something else, this is when the problem starts. This is where suffering begins. And this is called ‘resistance’.

Resistance is when we deny what is happening because we wish it would be something else.

Resistance is fear.

Everyone suffers resistance. Some of us more than others. Part of our process of evolving, becoming, and maturing is to deal with the present moment and learn to face what life offers us with courage, strength, and an attitude of acceptance.

Find out more in today’s video where I explain how resistance affects our thoughts. I also narrate an ancient Zen story about a farmer and his unique expression of “maybe”…..

 

What Is True Freedom?

I always found it interesting that solitary confinement is used as a punishment in some prison systems yet self-imposed solitary confinement and silence is regularly used as spiritual sadhana (practices).

What can be seen as torture for one individual can be a means of enlightenment for another. 

This thought reminds me of a documentary I came upon just over a year ago describing the life story of a death row inmate that was wrongly accused of murder. In his book and later movie, “The Fear of 13“, Nick Yarris describes in heart wrenching detail the poor life choices he made and their subsequent consequences. His story is one of unimaginable suffering, yet there is something about his extraordinary tenacity and careful words that strikes a powerful and lasting effect with the listener. 

In one of the last scenes he describes how he was elated to discover that he had finally proved his innocence through DNA exoneration. His 20+ years on death row had finally come to an end. But just as this news broke he found himself being unceremoniously ripped from his standard cell with keepsakes, toiletries, books and art and thrown into a tiny windowless compartment with nothing but the clothes on his back. Why? Although not his first time in solitary confinement, this occasion was particularly cruel as the prison guards had only one reason for shifting cells; one last kick while he was down.  

Sitting in his cell he could have easily manifested any understandable emotion: anger, spite, hate, envy, jealousy, bitterness. Yet instead he did something truly miraculous. He calmly sat down in his cross-legged yoga posture and then proceeded to close his eyes. 

He narrated, “…they left me with nothing, so I decided to give myself everything.” 

He then went on to describe how he finally allowed himself to envision his new life once he got out of the prison system, what he’d wear, who he’d be with, where he’d go, what love he’d meet and what love he’d give.

He now spends his days advocating love and kindness to a world that desperately needs it.

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor Frankl

In a similar vein, when Dan Rather asked Nelson Mandela in a 1990 interview, “What was the worst thing that happened to you when you were in prison?” Nelson didn’t hesitate to respond, “It is easy to forget the past, and I cannot answer your question because I frankly do not remember.”

Of course we are all very familiar with Nelson Mandela’s powerful legacy of peace, justice and most of all forgiveness.

And finally a more recent example of the power of the human spirit can be showcased in the newly discovered musical compositions that prisoners in Nazi concentration camps wrote and smuggled out through laundry and other desperate means. Some composed their symphonies on toilet paper written with charcoal given to them as dysentary medicine.

“When you lost freedom…toilet paper and coal can be freedom.” – Francesco Lotoro

The definition of freedom states, “the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint” but this is the dictionary, a book filled with words that were defined by humans and in this specific case, a word that has evolved beyond its previous contextual meaning.

True freedom has nothing to do with exerting yourself onto others simply because you can. Freedom is something far more powerful – it is the perseverance of the human spirit, to consciously choose your attitude in any given experience; to respond in full awareness and take 100% responsibility.

Freedom is living in a high vibrancy state with hearts open to give and receive without limit, minds that are free to perceive reality as it is with clarity, and boundless awareness of our connection to all life in all its myriad of forms.

This is true freedom.

If you are inspired by these stories of true human freedom and would like to make some lifestyle changes, a Spiritual Life Coach can help create more awareness to live a more balanced and empowered life. Spiritual mentorship and life coaching sessions include self-inquiry, guided meditations, lifestyle design, goal setting and homework to help steer you in the right direction and rediscover your innate talents, gifts and personal power.

We all deserve to live our lives as an expression of true freedom and joy. If you are interested in taking back control of your life while keeping yourself accountable, please contact me, I would love to work with you!

Please click the button below to schedule your free discovery call now!

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Elizabeth Hancock CPC, CSC - Spiritual Teacher & Empowerment Coach

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