People often ask me how I keep my life in order while being involved in so many projects, where I find the time to do all that I do. I always tell them that I decide what I want to do, then I make time for it and stay focused on it until I achieve it. Easier said than done, I know. I’m asked so often that I thought I’d share a few thoughts with you.

DAILY PRACTICE
We spend much time daily doing things we look back on later as such a waste of time, so why not turn some of that time to good use? Daily practice is, for me, the key to so many things. Steady, focused practice on a regular basis. Practicing what, you ask? For me, that’s a variety of things. I do my morning meditation at 4:00 a.m. every morning.  Sometimes I am still awake then, other times I wake up for it.  This private, quiet time alone is invaluable to me.

I may drive to the beach to meditate on the sound of the surf, I may just sit and study a favorite philosophy but always I take about 20 minutes to just stretch and breathe and focus on my breath. That’s when the good insights come ~ when I’m completely in silence, alone, relaxed, not thinking or talking about anything. I usually go back to sleep about dawn for another hour or two and always awaken refreshed.

When I get up, before I go into my daily work, I make a list of everything I want to accomplish that day; next I review and revise my ongoing list of everything I want to accomplish this week, this month, this year. I just check it over to see if there are any additions, amendments or things to check off that have already been accomplished.

CULTIVATING THE INNER EXPERIENCE
I believe that the easiest way to achieve peace of mind, centeredness and everything else that I want, is to cultivate the inner experience. What do I mean by that? I mean doing those things and being with those people that encourage the Higher Self within me to emerge and express Itself. For me, this includes sacred study, prayer, meditation and writing.

SACRED STUDY
When I say sacred study, that doesn’t necessarily mean religious scripture.  For me it also includes Ram Dass,  Roy Eugene Davis, Deepak Chopra, Ma Yoga Shakti, Joel Goldsmith, Eckhart Tolle, Kathleen Norris They all delve into the heart of Life and they’ve all inspired me in my own personal journey of transformation and awakening.

PRAYER
I have several sets of prayers I say in sequence as I sit to meditate, including the Great Invocation, the Lord’s Prayer, the  Gayantri mantra and the Sarva Mangalye and others. These prepare my mind for meditation.  Prayer does not have to be part of your meditation, I just do it because I dig it.

MEDITATION
I prefer just following my breath, no guided meditation cd. Sit quietly, put your attention at the base of your nostrils where your breath comes in and out and feel the breath in your nostrils.  When a thought comes, and it will, just focus your attention back at the base of your nostrils and again follow your breath. That releases the thought. This is more powerful than you imagine in cultivating the inner experience.

WRITING
Make a list of all the things you appreciate and are thankful for. Mine begins with a roof over my head, food to eat, indoor plumbing, electric lights and includes good health, friends who care for me, and my list is quite long. Review this list every morning and add to it anytime you wish. Make a list of all the things you want to accomplish today, this week, this month, this year, and in your lifetime. Review this list daily and revise it as needed. This helps keep you focused and on track. This isn’t as hard to do as you might think.  A few pages a day and you’ll be on a roll.  That means you’re “in the vortex” as Abraham-Hicks calls it.

EXPERIENCING EVERYTHING CONSCIOUSLY ALSO CULTIVATES THE INNER EXPERIENCE. Don’t deny yourself outer experiences, experiencing them consciously also cultivates the inner experience. How do you experience them consciously? Be present in the Now when you do them. When you eat, eat consciously, enjoy every bite and swallow; turn off the radio and tv and put down the book and, as they say in Zen, eat when you eat. Cultivate mindfulness in every act you do in your daily life. When washing dishes, feel the weight of each plate and revel in the warmth of the water and the soapy delight of simply washing dishes. Feel the happy soap bubbles under your sponge.  Watch them dance around like little crystal balls in the air, just for your delight. Eat your blueberries one by one by delicious one.  Become conscious in every action.   When you do, the Universe dances with you.  When you dance with the Universe, that is the fruit of your cultivation work.

ON ASCENSION AND RAISING OUR VIBRATION
We’ve heard these phrases for decades now and we still aren’t sure what they mean. I like using terms everyone understands and can automatically apply to their life right now. Right now, not way off in some theoretically enlightened future. What activities or friends used to hold your attention that no longer do? Who and what holds your attention now? Do you feel you’ve risen in consciousness since that time?

For many, going to clubs was a weekly event and was immensely fulfilling ~ dressing up, going to a new or favorite place, having a few drinks, gathering with friends, meeting new people, dancing until 2:00 a.m. Then just as you got to know every club and every person who went there, you got bored with it; it was no longer stimulating; it no longer held your interest. You started noticing all the people who were there time after time and weren’t having fun. It seemed almost like a routine designed to fill the time and ease the ache of their lonely lives. Their heart wasn’t in it. For many, their heart wasn’t in anything and that is a Universal condition we all know. We’ve all been there at some point in our lives. As soon as you’ve begun to notice you’re not having fun anymore, that’s the evidence that you’ve ascended to another level, that you’ve raised your vibration a notch. A good rule of thumb is don’t do anything unless your heart is completely in it.

HOW DO WE RAISE OUR VIBRATION?
We raise our vibration by raising our level of compassion and understanding of ourselves and others. We raise our vibration every time we feel the thrill of being in complete appreciation of everything around us.

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M ASCENDING?
We ascend in gradual, and sometimes not so gradual, steps daily by working through the challenges in our own lives, by striving to see and understand the point of view of others. We know we’re ascending when we allow others to make statements we don’t agree with and commit acts we wouldn’t choose for ourselves without openly fighting against it, knowing that there is a reason for everything and that every experience has value in helping us integrate our personality.

HOW DO I GET OUT OF A SLUMP?
The quickest way I know to pull myself out of the blues is to sit down and make my appreciation and I want lists. When I’m in a slump, the fastest way I’ve found to raise my vibration is to re-read these lists and remember exactly what I have, and who I really am. he purpose of this is to focus my thoughts in another direction. When I do that, I’ll attract more like thoughts and that will more easily attract a solution to me.

Is it really this simple?  Yes, it is.
Do I always choose to exercise my willpower to make myself do what I know to do?
Ah, there’s the rub.

Andrea