TONGLEN - An Ancient Tibetan Practice

Use what seems like poison as medicine. Use your
personal suffering as the path to compassion for all beings.

In Tonglen practice, through our compassion, we take on (embrace without resistance) the various sufferings of all beings: their fear, hurt, frustration, pain, anger, guilt, bitterness, loneliness, doubt, rage, and so forth. In return, we give them our loving-kindness, happiness, peace of mind, well-being, healing, and fulfillment.

1) Sit quietly, calm the mind, and center yourself. Reflect on the immense suffering that all beings everywhere experience. Allow their suffering to open your heart and awaken your compassion. You may also choose to invoke the presence of all the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and enlightened beings, so that through their inspiration and blessing, compassion may be born in your heart. In this way, you are resting in bodhicitta—the enlightened nature of the mind. Bodhicitta, is an inexhaustible source of purity, generosity, and compassion.

2) Imagine in front of you, as clearly as possible, someone you care for who is suffering. Although this may be more challenging, you may also imagine someone you feel indifferent toward, someone you consider to be an enemy, or those who have hurt you or others. Open yourself to this person's suffering. Allow yourself to feel connected with him or her, aware of their difficulties, pain, and distress. Then, as you feel your heart opening in compassion toward the person, imagine that all of his or her suffering comes out and gathers itself into a mass of hot, black, grimy smoke.

3) Now, visualize breathing in this mass of black smoke, seeing it dissolve into the very core of your self-grasping (ego) at your heart center. There in your heart, it completely destroys all traces of fear and selfishness (self-cherishing) and purifies all of your negative karma.

4) Imagine, now that your fear, self-centeredness and negative karma has been completely destroyed, your enlightened heart (bodhicitta) is fully revealed. As you breathe out, imagine you are sending out the radiance of loving-kindness, compassion, peace, happiness, and well-being to this person. See this brilliant radiance purifying all of their negative karma. Send out any feelings that encourage healing, relaxation, and openness.

5) Continue this "giving and receiving" with each breath for as long as you wish. At the end of your practice, generate a firm inner conviction that this person has been freed of suffering and negative karma and is filled with peace, happiness and well-being. You may also wish to dedicate the merit and virtue of your practice to the benefit of all sentient beings.

Jahn note: This really works in a weird and profound way. I know when I'm in the midst of my "pain & suffering", the last thing I want to do is to wish peace freedom & happiness to all beings..... alll I can say is.

Give it Go...

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Check out : Pema Chödrön

In Praise of Quesfirmations

“Every day, in every way, I am getting fatter and fatter . . . .” No, wait, that’s not right. Try again.

“I will live my convictions and honor my commitments, because, gosh darn it, I deserve to be convicted, and then committed . . . .” No, something’s off there, too.

I just can’t get these affirmations right. The only thing I have pasted onto my bathroom mirror is my reflection. (I should reflect on that.)

I’ve never been comfortable with the practice of repeating affirmative statements about myself, to myself. Telling myself about myself, over and over, seems to me somehow self-indulgent, presumptuous. And it makes me silly, too. When I stare at myself saying, “You are handsome, you are brilliant, you are a millionaire, you floss with amazing regularity . . .” another voice inside wants to say, “Excuse me, Miss Crabtree—are we gonna be tested on this?”

Maybe it’s because of this recalcitrant little flaw in my character: I don’t like being told what to do. Not even by me. It makes me want to argue. It doesn’t work.

But I’ve discovered what does: questions. I don’t like being told what to do, but I’m fine with being asked, “What do you want to do?” (Even by me.) Questions invite a response. Therefore, they also invite thought, which I think is generally a good thing to invite. The better the question, the better the thought in response.

A few months ago, while struggling one morning of a very busy day to prioritize my task list, an inspiring question just popped out: “What can I do TODAY to make the world a better place?” It stopped me in my task-list tracks. Led to all sorts of thoughtful thoughts-in-response. Now, I start every day with that question. My life literally hasn’t been the same since.

Here are a few other powerful quesfirmations I’ve learned: From John Fogg, “What was the very best thing that happened for you today (this week, this month, etc.)?” And from Brian Biro, “What’s my most powerful next step?”

An affirmation is the same statement every time you repeat it. I get bored. (But then, I always got bored with meditation and George Winston, too.) A quesfirmation invites a different response each and every time you ask it. Isn’t that amazing? Questions are powerful creative forces.

Buckminster Fuller once wrote a book entitled I Seem to Be a Verb. Nouns, explained Bucky, are things; verbs move. For me, I guess, affirmations are nouns. I seem to be a question.

This article is excerpted from The Zen of MLM; it originally appeared in the March 1994 edition of Upline.

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Instant Self-Hypnosis 10 Day Challenge

Pick what you'd like.

I'll send you the self-hynosis section of your choice.

Read it for 10 days..morning or night.

Give your feedback.

cheers,

Jahn

The Instant Self-Hypnosis Reader’s Induction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Stop Stressing Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
More Fun at Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Super-Assertive in Business. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Public Speaking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Eliminate Allergies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Stop Teeth Grinding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Perfect Concentration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Amazing Dream Recall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Lucid Dreams Tonight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Bye-Bye Bad Habit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Feeling Dandy at the Dentist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Become More Decisive and Efficient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
More Energy Now. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Fly without Fear. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
End Fingernail Biting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Supercharged Goal Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
You’re Getting Sleepy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Great Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Lose Weight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Eat Healthy, Eat Right. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
No More Procrastination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Stop Smoking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Stop Smoking Follow-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Total Self-Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Clear and Healthy Skin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Acing Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Sharp Memory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Intensify and Maximize Workouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Strong Immune System. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Rapid Healing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Appreciate Your Mate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Creative Problem Solving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Tap Your Creative Genius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
Make More Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

The First Four Ways of Letting Go

The First Four Ways of Letting Go

• Deciding to drop the emotion
• Welcoming or allowing the emotion
• Diving into the core of the emotion
• Holistic releasing

These are the first four ways to approach the process of releasing and all lead to the same result: liberating your natural ability to let go of any unwanted emotion on the spot and allowing some of the suppressed energy in your subconscious to dissipate. The first way is by choosing to let go of the unwanted feeling. The second way is to welcome the feeling to allow the emotion just to be. The third way is to dive into the core of the emotion. The fourth way is by holistically embracing both sides of any issue or belief. There is also a Fifth Way of Releasing which will be described on a separate page.

Deciding to Drop It

Let me explain by asking you to participate in a simple release. Pick up a pen, a pencil, or some small object that you would be willing to drop without giving it a second thought.

Now, hold the object in front of you and really grip it tightly. Pretend this is one of your limiting feelings and that your hand represents your gut or your consciousness. If you held the object long enough, this would start to feel uncomfortable yet familiar.

Now, open your hand and roll the object around in it. Notice that you are the one holding on to it; it is not attached to your hand. The same is true with your feelings. Your feelings are as attached to you as this object is attached to your hand.

We hold on to our feelings and forget that we are holding on to them. It’s even in our language. When we feel angry or sad, we don’t usually say, “I feel angry,” or “I feel sad.” We say, “I am angry,” or “I am sad.” Without realizing it, we are misidentifying that we are the feeling. Often, we believe a feeling is holding on to us. This is not true… we are always in control and just don’t know it.
Now, let the object go.

What happened? You let go of the object, and it dropped to the floor. Was that hard? Of course not. That’s what we mean when we say, “Let go or ‘release.’”

You can do the same thing with any emotion: choose to let it go.

Welcoming or Allowing the Emotion

Sticking with this same analogy: If you walked around with your hand open, wouldn’t it be very difficult to hold on to the pen or any other object? Likewise, when you allow or welcome a feeling, you are opening your consciousness, and this enables the feeling to drop away by itself like clouds passing in the sky or smoke rising up an open chimney flue. It is as though you are removing the lid from a pressure cooker.

Diving into the Core of the Emotion

Now, if you took the same object a pencil, pen, or pebble and magnified it large enough, it would appear more and more like empty space. You would be looking into the gaps between the molecules and atoms. When you dive into the very core of a feeling, you will observe a comparable phenomenon: Nothing is really there.

As you master the process of releasing, you will discover that even your deepest feelings are just on the surface. At the core you are empty, silent, and at peace, not in the pain and darkness that most of us would assume. In fact, even our most extreme feelings have only as much substance as a soap bubble. And you know what happens when you poke your finger into a soap bubble. It pops. That’s exactly what happens when you dive into the core of a feeling.

Holistic Releasing

Lastly, as you focus on the object in your hand you will notice that it is defined by opposites. In other words the reason you can perceive the object is because of the space around it. Without space there can be no contents. When it comes to emotionally-based problems and feelings, they are defined or held together by opposites as well. We have good and bad, right and wrong, happy and sad, and love and hate to just name a few. When you welcome both sides of any of these pairs, as opposed to clinging to one and resisting the other, you find that they both dissolve leaving you with the empty space that allows for all experiencing. We call this fourth way of releasing Holistic Releasing.

I have used this thru the years..works yes it does.

Jahn

There are no problems - there is only resistance.

"There Are NO Problems"

You may find that statement brings up a discomforting feeling. Maybe it brings up a feeling of doubt and disbelief. Maybe it brings up a feeling of anger. Or, maybe it causes a feeling of confusion to come over you.

"If you don't believe it, what is the advantage to you
of believing in your problems?"

The truth is "There are no problems." There are only thoughts and feelings.

"Have you ever done anything that was not first inspired by a feeling?"

"Have you ever NOT done something for any reason other
than because of a feeling?"

If you consider both of those questions very carefully you will discover the answer to both is "NO!" Feelings are the driving force of life - or they are the brakes - unless you learn to effectively resolve them.

Have you ever noticed how 2 people can encounter the same situation and have different experiences of what happened?

This is the result of thinking and feeling.

Try this little experiment and prove something to yourself. Notice the temperature of your body. Maybe you feel a little warm. Maybe you feel a little cool. This works best if you are able to go outside or into an area that makes you truly uncomfortable - hot or cold.

If you feel a little cold right now, think about wanting to be warmer.

What happens? If you're following along with us you will notice that you actually feel colder than you did to begin - not warmer. Wanting to be warmer actually makes you feel colder!

Why is this? Because whatever you resist persists and becomes a stronger feeling.

If you want more money, you resist what you have and the result is that you actually find money continues to be a struggle and the problems continue coming. This will not change until the underlying resistance is resolved.

There are no problems - there is only resistance.

Now let's go back to our hot and cold experiment.

Now, if you feel cold try a couple of things.

First, could you allow yourself to feel as warm as you do? Do your best to feel the warmth that is present. Even at temperatures below zero degrees, warmth is present. Can you feel it? Of course you can!

Second, could you allow yourself to welcome feeling as cold as you do? Don't resist the cold. Just for a moment allow yourself to feel the feeling sensation of being cold.

What do you notice? If you're following along, you will notice that if even for a moment you don't feel cold at all.

Why is this? Because you have stopped resisting the feeling. It isn't until you resist feeling cold that it becomes uncomfortable.

What you resist, persists.

Remember, whatever you resist persists and becomes stronger. It's like lifting weights. Lifting weights is also called "resistance training." And resistance training is designed to make your muscles stronger.

Resistance training is exactly what most of us are doing with our feelings too - except what we are really doing is making ourselves stronger at actually pushing away the things we desire.

If you've just encountered a painful breakup and you want that pain to stop, what happens? It hurts more.

If you feel anxious and you try to stop feeling anxious, what happens? You feel more anxious.

If you feel embarrassed in a situation and you try not to show it, what happens? Your ears turn red and your face blushes!

And this is what makes problems feel like problems.

There are no problems - there is only resistance.

-Lester Levenson the guru of unperturbability..or is it imperturbability?