Mind Calm (12 page)

Seeing the subtle movement away from present moment awareness to engage in the content of your mind and being willing to let go to return to the context of consciousness awareness is the primary purpose of this beautifully simple form of meditation. The ‘CALM' part of MIND CALM is an acronym that stands for ‘Conscious Awareness Life Meditation'. Mind Calm is therefore quite simply a form of meditation that makes you consciously aware during everyday life. We've already covered the many beneficial reasons for being consciously aware, so let's turn our attention now to what the meditation includes and how to do it.

Mind Calm involves two main elements:

1. Being Gently Alert with your Attention Wide Open (GAAWO), and
   
2. Occasionally thinking Calm Thoughts that help to bring more of what you want into daily life.
   

An earlier chapter introduced you to
GAAWO
, when you learned how to be gently alert with your attention wide open with your eyes open. Now you are ready to play with GAAWO with your eyes closed. To do this, I want you to start with open-eyed GAAWO by looking ahead at the page while letting your attention open up wide. Now, having engaged GAAWO with your eyes open, I invite you to see what it is like to let your eyelids drop down, while keeping GAAWO gently engaged. Do it now and see what it is like. You may find that the experience between open- and closed-eye GAAWO is very similar. Yes, you might not have external objects to notice in your peripheral vision.
But nonetheless, by having the intention to be gently alert with your attention wide open with your eyes closed, you will find that your mind is more still and quiet.

Every Calm Sitting - which is the term we use for the more traditional closed-eye sitting meditation - starts with closing your eyes and engaging GAAWO. You are encouraged to ‘hang out' in GAAWO for a while, to practise being consciously aware and become more intimate with the calm context of this moment. Then, after a little while (I'm not going to tell you how long because you might start timing it), gently think a Calm Thought.

Calm Thoughts are ones that you are given to intentionally think during open- and closed-eye Mind Calm meditation. They can help you to bring very appealing states of being into your conscious living experience, such as peace, love and clarity, to name only three of
the 10 states covered in Mind Calm
. Even if you might not believe it yet, you are already connected, powerful, joyful, peace-filled, love and one with everything in the cosmos. You are all of these stunning states of being and more. However, if you haven't been experiencing them then it means they've become buried under your busy mind. These states are like seeds in the soil and using the Calm Thoughts gives them a chance to break through the surface to become visible once again.

Calm Thoughts are unique and bring these states of being into your conscious living experience because of the following three components that make them up:

OM + Positive Intention + Focus Point

‘OM' (sometimes spelled ‘AUM') is a well-known and widely used word from Sanskrit, an ancient language of consciousness. One of the facets of Sanskrit that makes it so conscious is that it is a vibrational language. This means Sanskrit shares the vibrational experience of the meaning of the words you are thinking or speaking. Quite remarkably, when using Sanskrit you automatically align your attention with the vibrational frequency of the words you are thinking or saying. This can be very powerful. Especially when you appreciate just how much of the universe is impacted by and connected via vibration.

‘
Everything in life is vibration.
'
A
LBERT
E
INSTEIN

Modern science has found what the ancient mystics knew all along: everything in the physical world is vibrating at a range of frequencies that enables them to maintain their individual physical forms. Quantum physicists have said that when you delve down to the subatomic particle level and beyond to even tinier levels, all you find is light potentials coming in and out of existence. Wow! At the quantum level, everything is vibrating at frequencies, which, as you return to viewing them with the naked eye, end up being a tree, a chair, a pen or the book in your hands.

At the subatomic level, which is beyond what can be seen, heard or touched by your senses, even your body is vibrating at a range of frequencies that ends up being your skin, muscles, bones, brain and all of the organs that are doing their magic right now. But what makes this even more miraculous is how beyond the blatant components
of your physical body, your thoughts and emotions are also vibrating and creating a ripple effect throughout not only your body but the entire universe, too. Wow, again! Sounds cool, but what does all of this have to do with OM?

At the base level of everything in physical, mental and emotional existence is one root vibration. You will never guess what that vibration is… Yes, you guessed right, OM! Although more recently, scientists have referred to this root vibration in terms such as ‘the tone of the known universe', the ancient mystical traditions know this to be the OM.

OM is known as being the vibration of creation:
the father and mother vibration present
at the birth of everything in existence.

I like to think about it this way. Imagine that in the beginning - and I mean the ‘big beginning' where nothing existed yet - there was only still silent empty space. Then movement came from the stillness, sound from the silence and stuff started to fill the empty space. The first movement vibration from stillness was OM, the first vibration that produced sound was OM, and the first vibration that ended up as something physical was OM. Fast forward to the present day and this means that OM is the root vibration of everything in your life, including your thoughts, emotions and physical body, along with everybody you know and everything that has happened, is happening and will happen in your life. Everything comes into creation on the coat-tails of OM.

Putting your attention on OM, especially when meditating, aligns your attention with the driving force of creation.
Pretty cool, hey! I guess this is one of the reasons why millions of people have meditated using OM for as long as people have meditated. But the good news doesn't end here. Remember, quantum scientists have found everything comes in and out of existence each moment. This phenomenon leads us to the liberating possibility that ‘in the beginning' is eternally now.

Every moment offers a fresh start full of
potential for you to bring into creation
what you want – if you invite it in.

Being stuck in the same thinking patterns you had yesterday, last week and the previous decades, invites the same old stuff to keep coming into existence time and time again. But what if you had a brand new thought; one carried on the infinitely powerful wings of OM - to help you bring new life into your life? Well, this is what the Calm Thoughts offer because we marry OM with positive intentions.

Thoughts become things. If you've ever read a self-help book, or observed how your life works, there's a high chance you'll already know that everything you have purposefully created during your life started out as a single seed-thought. For instance, you once thought,
I'd like to get a job
or
start a business
and like magic - OK, potentially with a lot of work too - your intention to make a change in your career came into fruition. Or, perhaps, you thought you'd really like more mind calm and
BAM
, this book ended up in your hands. It is happening all of the time. Thoughts make the journey from inside your mind to
transform into external physical events and things. Take a look at your life today and you will see the reflection of the ripple effect of what you've been thinking about most over the past few days, weeks or years. The evidence is in plain sight: thoughts become things eventually.

Thought-based positive intentions are
seeds of potential.

Rolling around in your mind playing the Judgement Game and putting your attention on what's bad, negative, wrong or worse leads to the re-creation of what you don't want. Good things may happen occasionally, (what goes down does go up, after all), but for those lost in judgemental thinking, life can become a struggle up and over a never-ending hill of hurdles. To bring an end to the unnecessary cycle, Mind Calm includes a series of ten positive intentions to focus your attention upon instead.

But with Mind Calm you don't just try to think positively from the surface level of your mind. Instead, you start Mind Calm by engaging GAAWO to align your attention with present moment awareness then think OM (the driving force of creation) alongside the positive intentions. As you can imagine, this ends up being a potent combo bringing about big positive effects. Especially when you add the final component of the Calm Thoughts, which helps you to cross the bridge from the mind into your conscious living experience.

Each Calm Thought has a recommended location within or around your body on which to put your attention when
thinking it. With the addition of these focus points, the power of the Calm Thoughts is magnified significantly.

Focus points work in a number of ways. First, a few of the focus point locations sit within some of the well-known energy centres in your body called chakras. Known for centuries and taught in many traditions, chakra is a Sanskrit word translated as ‘wheel' or ‘vortex'. By placing your attention on these areas of your body while thinking the Calm Thoughts, you not only activate the energy vortexes more but also harness their power to actualize the positive intentions.

Those familiar with chakras may notice that some of the positive intentions and focus points don't link up with the traditional meanings or purpose of each chakra. This is intentional, as Mind Calm is a more modern way of meditating, which also aims to harness the power of the symbolic nature of the mind. The mind uses and responds to symbols. Therefore, giving the mind symbolic locations within the body to focus on makes the mind less likely to judge and resist the process.

For example, most people feel their emotions in their solar plexus area (which is located between the navel and the heart). So to think
OM PEACE
while focusing on the solar plexus - which is actually one of the Calm Thoughts - makes sense to your mind as that is the body area where most people would prefer to experience peace. By working in harmony with the symbolic nature of the mind, you can more easily create mind calm and, without such a busy mind, rediscover the still silent presence of your conscious awareness. But what about the other focus points, which don't sit within the known chakras? The same goes for these too. You will notice that these focus points are also in
areas within or around your body that symbolically relate to the positive intention that the Calm Thought represents.

Despite this reasoning behind each Calm Thought, I encourage you not to get too caught up in the individual themes or theory behind how they might work. The most important part of Mind Calm is the way in which you use them. Before taking you through Mind Calm meditation in detail, here's a quick summary, so you can quickly see how simple and easy this form of meditation is…

Be Gently Alert with your Attention Wide Open.

Think one of
the Calm Thoughts
.

Be Gently Alert with your Attention Wide Open.

When you notice you've been thinking, repeat cycle.

Always begin using Mind Calm by engaging GAAWO. Then once you are gently alert with your attention wide open, think one of the Calm Thoughts. As soon as you have thought the Calm Thought, let go the thought and focus point by returning to GAAWO. Rest in calm conscious awareness until you notice that you've been thinking about something, then repeat the three Steps. Simple! Believe me - Mind Calm is profound and powerful in its simplicity and conscious raising benefits.

There are 10 Calm Thoughts in total, each consisting of ‘OM', a positive intention and a focus point.

Now you are aware of the three steps involved in Mind Calm and are aware of the 10 Calm Thoughts, let's go through a Calm Sitting together.

• Begin by sitting comfortably, close your eyes, and engage GAAWO by being gently alert with your attention wide open.
  
• Think OM CONNECTION with your attention on the soles of your feet… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM POWER with your attention at the base of your spine… Let go of the thought and focus point
  by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM JOY with your attention in the navel. Then let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM PEACE with your attention in your solar plexus… then let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM LOVE with your attention in your heart centre… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM TRUTH with your attention in your throat area… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM CLARITY with your attention in the centre of your forehead… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM WISDOM with your attention at the top of your head… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM ONENESS with your attention far and wide… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Then engage GAAWO for a short while before thinking OM PRESENCE with your attention in the entire body… Let go of the thought and focus point by re-engaging GAAWO. Rest consciously aware of now until you notice you've been thinking other thoughts.
  
• Either repeat the series of Calm Thoughts or if you're ready to finish the Calm Sitting, slowly open your eyes.