We are into the season of cheers and goodwill, of holiday greetings and blessings. A time when people wish the best for families and friends, and even strangers. And a time when everyone prays for peace on earth.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could keep these holiday wishes of love and peace and joy alive in us all the time? Wouldn’t it be nice if the cheerful gift giving and warm-hearted wishes were part of our everyday way of being? If only the Spirit of Christmas was an everyday affair!
Well, you know, a heartfelt intention, powered by the breath is a real blessing. It can make a real difference in someone’s life. And maybe it can even change the world! If nothing else, it certainly makes a real difference in your inner world.
Your cells are constantly reproducing, and the atmosphere in which they reproduce has a profound effect on the energy and life of those cells. And, it is a fact that the human heart generates an electromagnetic field that can easily be measured from several feet away from the body!
Your heart influences the hearts of others in a very real and measurable way. Your thoughts and feelings and intentions are expressions of real energy. What kind of energy are you generating? What kind of energy are you sending out into the world?
You know, everyday millions of Christians, Jews, and Muslims pray for world peace. And millions of Buddhists face the four directions of the compass and send out peaceful vibrations.
As screwed up as the world is, things would be much worse if people were not doing things like this. And so, as Breathworkers we have a real responsibility, because the mind gets its creative power from the breath. And so at some point, we cannot afford the luxury of a negative thought!
What kind of energy do you want to fill yourself with? What kind of energy do you want to send out into the world?
You don’t have to be a pope or a saint, or a holy person to bless the world. You can make every breath a prayer, and you can choose to experience every breath as a blessing. And if you do this you will become a force for good, a powerful transformational change agent.
You can be the change you want to see in the world. You can raise your own vibrations and in doing so, you can raise the vibrations on this planet.
I once traveled to Minsk with Leonard Orr. A woman at the seminar asked him about good and evil? He said: “What do you mean?” And she said, “Well, there are two kinds of energy. There is positive energy and there is negative energy.”
And he said: “Actually, there are three kinds of energy. There is positive energy, negative energy, and pure energy. Positive energy is pure energy colored by a positive thought, and negative energy is pure energy shaped and formed by a negative thought.”
What are you doing with the pure creative energy of life that is flowing through you with every breath? Maybe this holiday season can be an opportunity for you to take responsibility for every thought you think and every breath you breathe.
Maybe you can be the one who finally tips the scale of energy in the right direction! Maybe if we each lean in the right direction in those precious moments of choice, we can bring about the promise of a thousand years of peace on earth.
Maybe if we can each awaken our own inner peace, together we can promote and create world peace! One of my teachers once said: “You add just as much suffering to the world when you take offense as when you give offense.” Those words stopped me in my tracks.
Here’s an exercise that you can play with during this holiday season… and for that matter, a ritual you can enjoy every day of the year!
Think of a time when someone was expressing love to you. In some big or little way… A smile, a look, wishing you luck, giving you a gift, making love to you, or making tea for you… Since love is eternal, that love is still alive. It is still there—like money in the bank!
You can revisit that moment and withdraw that love whenever you choose. Do it now. Remember a time, a place, a person, a situation. Remember how you felt, what was happening… Wake that experience up in your mind and make it alive in all your senses.
And then breathe! Use each breath to take in the love that was being expressed in that moment. Use your breath to fill yourself with that love. And after you have done that, think of another time when someone was expressing love to you. It may have been today, or many years ago. Think of that moment and breathe in the love that was being expressed.
Think of a simple time, an ordinary everyday moment… when a stranger opened a door for you, or a grocery clerk smiled and said “have a nice day.” Or someone on the street gave you directions…
You may have politely said “thank you;” or casually expressed appreciation. But do you realize what was really happening in that moment? A perfect stranger was expressing love to you!
And since love is eternal, you can revisit and re-live that ordinary moment whenever you wish and you can extract the love that is always there waiting to be breathed! And here’s where it gets really interesting…
You can take this practice to an even higher or deeper level. Think of a time when someone was criticizing you, judging you, even hurting, offending, or punishing you. And in the light of this practice, you just might realize that even in that moment, even that person, in their own weird way, was trying to express love to you!
If you can begin to see love in those moments, your life will begin to change in the most magical way. You will feel a peace that is beyond understanding. And you will realize that we are all surrounded by love, and always living in love!
By the way… That same teacher of mine taught me that when it comes to people, it’s not a matter of good and evil, it’s a matter of conscious or unconscious, mature or immature, awake or asleep. Your thoughts are creative, and you are the one who chooses what to think and how to use your energy.
Wishing everyone a loving, joyful, peaceful, holiday season, and a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!
Dan (Guchu Ram Singh)
