miss hepburn and other none dualistic members

[john1974]

Originally Posted by Tobi

Lower ego gets us all! It is a part of our experience here. Not to be disdained, but we can train it. I got lower ego today, and was aware of it (which I wouldn't have been in the past) I decided "vibration follows thought", and those low thoughts were becoming outdated and did I need them any more?

(Example: someone sent me a hamper. There were three things I couldn't eat. I looked on them as a nuisance. The cheese was so seriously out of date anyway. Gosh! What a nuisance!
I caught that thought, laughed at it, and decided to think: "Wow....someone thought so much about me to send me a hamper. That was loving and kind of them. The cheese doesn't matter. That person gave me something. That is meaningful.")

It is within our scope -everyones' scope -to grasp any thought and change it at any time of night or day. Habitual thought creates new tracks.

i like the hamper theory i totally get what your saying, sometimes it just keeps trying and trying as soon as you notice a negative thought i can feel it dying down and then comes another persistant

[john1974]

Originally Posted by Nameless

Here's a suggestion when you are driving. You said it yourself really. Appreciate. Appreciation. I like to be in appreciation when I drive to work. I have a sort of mantra I do as well, but really the most helpful thing I do is, when I get in my car, I breathe in deeply and let it out, and when I let it out, I say release, or I'm letting go of negative thoughts. Then, I breathe in the Joy that is all around me, in the air, in the trees, all of nature that surrounds me, every living thing has joy in it. Then, on the outbreath, I breathe the Joy down into my body. I do this a few times. I can feel my cells revving up and coming alive.

One of the things I do is to appreciate everything around me. I appreciate my car, and the smooth road I am traveling on, the trees on the road, I try and find something to appreciate. Sometimes if I am at a light and catch my thoughts on something other than what I am trying to do, I'll rub my hands on my legs to get me back to the present moment and what I am doing. I concentrate on driving, and the action of driving, I appreciate my car, I appreciate my job, I appreciate my bosses, I love what I do, and I love that I can help, etc, etc.

I try to drive my thoughts before they drive me LOL.

It usually works to get in a good mood to start the day.

great advice its so easy to forget to do this in the mornings, the tricky thing is i cant seem to keep watching it at all times, maybe a focus thing, maybe more practice needed

[john1974]

Originally Posted by Gem

I like this one ^

yes, it resonates deeply

[CrystalSong]

'Thought Monitoring' could be said to be what I'm finding effective.

Basically a part of me stays in Observer Mode - just being aware of the wandering thoughts, if it see's a thought which is lower vibration and likely to lead to other thoughts which will lead to emotions which don't feel good or lower the vibration then the Observer points it out gently and gives the mind a new higher vibrational subject to play with.
(For example "I wish I'd phrased what I said to that guy in different way, he probably thinks I'm a flake now" gets replaced with "What a nice conversation we had, over all it was very open, honest and authentic, what a great 20 mins!")

Sometimes the lower ego will even catch itself these days and say 'Okay that thought doesn't feel good and is going to ruin this hour if I continue thinking like this, let's find a new subject which feels better".

So basically it's a matter of being aware of what the mind is thinking and thus what emotions those thoughts are going to enact and deciding if that's how it really wants to spend the next segment of time.

Trying to control every thought will make you crazy, its like herding wild cats, but just observing and interceding on the one's which cause potential emotional reactions when there's no outside reason to do so, is effective.

In this way, being selective about when to stop thinking or change the path of the thinking into something more appreciative, I've developed a lot more thought control and am consistently able to stay in a more positive mind set.

I should add that wisdom and discerning are required also, as sometimes it is appropriate to allow thoughts to run their course as a subject or event needs to be faced or to be felt and processed.
Recognizing that one is choosing to permit that for specific reasons instead of it just happening is in itself being more Conscious.

[Miss Hepburn]

Hahaha, just saw this topic...too funny.
Wow, great posts here! Too many to comment on individually! Sorry.
I think I have said before all I have to say.
Not much more to add.

Having something more powerful than the lower ego self, Dr. W. Dyers term...something like kundalini, yes, Sat Nam, an
expansion of awareness to the Divine Presence...something more powerful than the silly thoughts that try to distract, for me is key.
There are so many individual tricks, er, I mean techniques.

I always say..why can we sit for 2 hours in a movie and be fine! ?
Because there is something we are 'loving to focus on'....find
that thing we love to focus on...I say.
Then, the mind is knocking on a door that no one is answering!
Because the show is WAY more pleasant.

HA!

[Silver]

Originally Posted by john1974

so i have been practicing meditation for about a year now and it involves just going to my bedroom and just sitting on my bed, no devices laptop,mobile,ecig,book etc so its "me just being". however i have this thing called lower ego who always trys its hardest to distract me and does quite a good job i must say. anyway there is days i just fall deeply into the silence and the warmth and welcoming of feeling home is something else, i "notice" even before falling into this silence that this "me" tries is hardest to escape the present, i "notice" it dying to reach for a phone a laptop or anything for distraction any attempt to avoid "what is" this week i have started using visualizations during meditation and its difficult to do this as i find myself wondering of elsewhere, im hoping this improves because i read somewhere if you hold a positive thought for 17 seconds it attaches other thoughts to it .

now when im at work or driving i find that this seems to be when this turd called "lower ego" sneaks up on me and its like being trapped between i lions jaws , at these times i find it really difficult to keep an eye on this little thing and somehow it sneaks in and bites me on the thing, i think its a focus thing myself as i find it difficult to keep a eye on it when driving or working so if anyone can give some pointers to crush this little thing at times like at work or driving. much appreciated

Hi John,
I've been reading up and studying some things about the Buddha and Buddhism for about a year now, and it has helped me immensely to deal with the loss of my son, Sean (3-3-87 - 2-14-10) and while I don't really meditate, I do practice mindfulness. It seems real easy for me. My study of Buddhism has done a world of good for me....I understand what you mean, though. Most people try just a little bit too hard, to do this serious (or not so serious) meditation thing. It is about allowing your emotions, whatever they may be, or other distracting thoughts to enter your mind and then take a brief tour, and then just allow it to exit and don't to worry about any performance you believe/feel/think you have. Nothing is a problem. Acceptance of your normal feelings without clinging to them and all that is good.

I haven't read any of the other replies, I'm speaking from what I have within me to share with you, in the hopes it will be helpful / meaningful to you.

[mulyo13]

Originally Posted by john1974

so i have been practicing meditation for about a year now and it involves just going to my bedroom and just sitting on my bed, no devices laptop,mobile,ecig,book etc so its "me just being". however i have this thing called lower ego who always trys its hardest to distract me and does quite a good job i must say. anyway there is days i just fall deeply into the silence and the warmth and welcoming of feeling home is something else, i "notice" even before falling into this silence that this "me" tries is hardest to escape the present, i "notice" it dying to reach for a phone a laptop or anything for distraction any attempt to avoid "what is" this week i have started using visualizations during meditation and its difficult to do this as i find myself wondering of elsewhere, im hoping this improves because i read somewhere if you hold a positive thought for 17 seconds it attaches other thoughts to it .

now when im at work or driving i find that this seems to be when this turd called "lower ego" sneaks up on me and its like being trapped between i lions jaws , at these times i find it really difficult to keep an eye on this little thing and somehow it sneaks in and bites me on the thing, i think its a focus thing myself as i find it difficult to keep a eye on it when driving or working so if anyone can give some pointers to crush this little thing at times like at work or driving. much appreciated

My suggestion, try breath method (anapanasati).
Count your breath from 1 to 20 and start over again from 1. If you forget in the middle, back to 1. It means something is disturbing your concentration.
If you feel out of breath/breathless, it means you controlling your breath. Try to more relax.
If you feel pain, don't let it disturb your breath counting.
do for 30 minutes than do for 1 hour and count 1 to 100.
While you do this, your will have sharp focus/concentration.
If you succeed, you can start 'watching your mind' or other method that you wish.
Hope it helps.

[FallingLeaves]

driving and meditating is complicated. You might crash.... Do it enough and you might learn how to navigate though. But you might have a lot of harrowing experiences along the way. At least I suppose so.

One of the things to know is that fighting with something gives it energy. If you really don't want something fighting with it isn't the way to get rid of it.

That said, there is a lot of desire here there and everywhere to only go for positive thoughts and suppress what is negative. All I can say is that I can trace nearly all the problems the world is willing to consider to people who wanted to be positive about what they could get for themselves or for people they considered to be like them. Because often positivity is used as a steam roller to bowl over people not in the same clique. And that starts a fight.

[wstein]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

driving and meditating is complicated. You might crash.... Do it enough and you might learn how to navigate though. But you might have a lot of harrowing experiences along the way. At least I suppose so.

I have found the exact opposite. Driving in a meditative state reduces distraction, boredom, and getting tired. As one is more attentive and being more present they likely are driving better. This does assume you meditate with your eyes open ...

[Miss Hepburn]

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

I can trace nearly all the problems the world is willing to consider to people
who wanted to be positive about what they could get for themselves
or.....

Hi FallingLeaves,
You might like to glance at the book 'Primal Scream', Dr. Janov
speaks about the same issue...'all the problems and wars of this world' he feels
are from unfulfilled childhood desires.

(Note: Childhood desires unfulfilled...not for ice cream, ha...deeper more
primal
desires for love, attention, comfort, food, caring in general.)
Makes me think of world leaders' possibly painful childhoods.