More than you think you are!

Good-day!

    It is my intention for all my readers to be well centered and experiencing growth in their lives! Now some may think, "that's a nice statement, but I am living in reality where wishin' and hopin' just don't cut it!" Well, today I am going to give you an exercise to help along with the centering exercise I shared a while back. It is really simple to do, but like Truth, it is profound in its implication and practice! Then you will have some idea why I send intention!
    The principle is called Extend. I learned of it in Yiliquan class. Now knowing what to look for, I have found its idea in every religion, self-help book/program, and ideology. I believe it is one of those universal principles the Creator wove into the fabric of life. As such, it is neutral but can be used in positive and negative ways. I find it odd that everything is reducible to two choices, don't you!
    I am convinced that even having the idea of mind-over-matter is an outlook of dis-order and dis-unity! Extend is exemplary of mind with matter. The principle states that: Where your mind/will/intention goes, your internal energy goes and that your body wants to follow. Now the body does not have to follow, but it wants to. What does all that mean?! Simply put, when you really hold out an idea of some kind, the energy of life (Chinese call Chi/Qi) follows where you are "extending" your mind to and the body has a natural inclination to want to do what you are thinking of! Cool, how the heck do I put that into practical use!? I'm glad you asked. You'll need a partner you can trust to help you in this, and while you are at it let them do it too! Okay, step by step here goes:
1. Hold your arm out straight in front of you.
2. Imagine that your arm is a ghost arm or made from rubber and can stretch as far as you will it to.
3. Your partner will hold your wrist from the bottom and put their hand in the elbow crease with the idea of bending your hand back towards your shoulder. They can press into your elbow crease and push on your wrist at the same time to try to accomplish this!
4. On the first try you will with all your muscular strength (but without moving your body around) try to resist them bending your arm. Do this for a few seconds and then both parties relax. Your partner is to note the level of muscular tension they feel in your arm!
5a. Set up as before but this time instead of using your muscles to fight/resist your partner, you will simply extend your Mind by imagining your arm grows longer and longer, through the walls, down the street, keep imaging the whole time that your arm keeps extending away from you further and further each second.
5b. While you are imagining 5a your partner will attempt to bend your arm again but will find they are unable to. Just keep extending while they are trying to bend your arm (without struggling against them physically) and you will find them struggling with all their might to bend your arm but can't!
    After you have done this give your partner a turn. Then spend some time thinking about what just happened there and some implications that it might have. Reread my opening to this post and I'll give you a few days to mull it over and will give some insights next posting.

Be well and talk with you soon!

Clutter and a clean mind

Hi all!
    I am in the midst of rearranging house and bedroom and was struck by the connections of cleaning and our habits/thoughts! I have noticed that when our external environment is in a state of chaos that a good portion of the time our mental life is unkempt as well, or a portion of it. 
    I have to admit in all honesty to being a sloppy-clean freak. What, you say?! It is true. I love a clean, well ordered environment as I feel more aligned, productive and less stressed! There is a part of me though that gets in a hurry and doesn't always maintain that order. I will end up throwing things on a counter or shelf and before I know it, wham, clutter abounds. Well, I tell myself, you are just really busy and it is okay for the moment. The lie I was telling myself is that momentary lacks of discipline are okay because I will get "to it" when I have time. I literally started laughing today at that fallacy as I hit hour number two of "getting around to it when I have time"!
    I just had to come and blog this as I realized that the more disordered my environment had become that the more my life was becoming disordered as well. Things just having been going as smooth lately. I didn't have as much "time" to do things, and I was becoming stressed about it. So as I tidy up my house and get rid of or straighten out the clutter I am looking at my thoughts as well for tell-tale signs of not keeping order there as well. As you probably guessed already, there are things I am supposed to be doing and have dropped the ball! The best thing is the time frame to recognize these little errors is getting shorter the more I work on myself and the curve to get back to the straight-and-narrow is getting more like a line than a circle.
    As a martial artist I strive to maintain the highest levels of discipline. When my environment is showing signs of clutter, I know that I am losing some discipline and it is time to kick it in the rear again. While relating this to a friend of mine, he was perplexed at my connecting a messy room to my overall outlook and mastery of life. I tried to explain it to him with little success. He thought I was being a little extreme! Now, he is a very intelligent person and it was my turn to be perplexed at his statement. I tried to explain to him how we are connected beings, and nothing happens in a vacuum. Something that happens to one part of me affects the whole because the idea of "parts" of us is illusion. Think back to the last time you had something as benign as a stuffy nose. Now really think about how your whole life was affected from just your nose. It is a relatively small part of you overall, yes?! Now think about how your work suffered, sleep suffered, maybe your intimacy with your significant other, social life, etc. Just that little stuffy nose brought changes to life because nothing happens in and of itself! 
    I'll leave you today with these ideas and to have you look for synchronicity in all that you do, Body/Mind/Spirit!