When asked "Where to experience?"

I was asked where is the best place to 'experience' - that is, partake in any type of spiritual or religious journey. My response is as follows;

My favorite spot is about 100 miles from any decently sized city.
I don't hear cars, I don't hear people, rarely do I even hear the prop of a plane.
I canoe around, and wander in the trees. I reflect my thoughts on the blue sky and white clouds while streaming in the sun's blessings. The world speaks to me here, it condemns and condones all parts of my life. The trees become my father, mother, brother and sister. The birds become aware of me, and I of them.
I cannot ignore my surrounding's most meaningful advice here. All things come at face value and with the weight of the Earth. I often leaved riddle, confused, yet relieved and relaxed. As if my journey has both ended and began.
Trying to experience such epiphanies or attempting introspection in a city, or a park leaves me distant and dilute. I feel as if nature is no longer there, but rather covered up and muffled. I can't communicate and I learn little, and fear much.
I do not enjoy 'experience' with concrete in sight.

The Transmuter

Transmute:

v. trans·mut·ed, trans·mut·ing, trans·mutes

v.tr.

To change from one form, nature, substance, or state into another; transform: Alchemists tried to transmute lead into gold. See Synonyms at convert.

Transmutation is synonymous with alchemy; it is the changing of one form to another. It is often used in biology as well, for often we see transmutations in energy. For instance, the sun's energy is transmuted in plants into sugars and starches, which later we can ingest and gain that energy from.

But today I want to talk about emotional transmutation. This is the key to becoming a successful, level headed, likeable person. The ability to take any emotion and turn it into something productive. For instance, there has been a great deal of internet hype around transmuting sexual energy into being productive. In other words, when you're horny as a goat, if you master a certain technique, you can use that 'energy' to write, paint, or get something done for your work or school.

In my post "I Think I've Hit Rock Bottom" I talked about transmuting the lowest of the low in our emotions - where we're depressed, feel useless, and have lack of energy - into a point where we start to change.

I'd like to go over how to do that. How to transmute, and how to be an 'alchemist' of emotions. My example will be you just got fired from your job.

1. Focus on what is bothering you or engulfing you. Take a deep breath and just dive into it. Consume yourself with how you just got fired - that feeling of betrayal, denial, discomfort, and loss.

2. Imagine the worst possible scenario. You lose your house, your car, you become homeless and have to beg for money. You lose all your friends.

3. Realize that this situation is incredibly slim, and that even this worst scenario has possibilities. You will undoubtedly meet new people and explore new places. You may have the chance to finally sleep on the beach. Hell, you might even enjoy not paying bills or having deadlines, there are a lot of people that choose to be homeless.

4. Remove blame - The universe unfolds as it does. All things happen - there are no evil people or evil intentions, there are only ideas of evil that harbor themselves in people's minds.

5. Transmute that negative energy into movement and action. Take what you wish would have happened and make it a reality. This is the leverage point from which you can explode into new possibilities. Einstein was told he was stupid. Lance Armstrong never won a race before diagnosed with cancer. Steve Jobs (although I don't like the example) had a bleak outlook of Apple at one point, before becoming the giant it is today.

Success from failure is not a coincidence, it's a recipe. Heroin addicts recover the best when they can't get any lower. In the world of business, it is often the most successful people have the longest history of failure.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
      - Albert Einstein -

And I will end on that note.

The Most Important Book

It is a subjective phrase, of course other books may be more important in other contexts, but this book is able to grip a being at their core, and shake them straight as a nail, if understood.

The book - Sacred Speech: The Way of Truth Speak by Tamarack Song

Of its premise is that we are fundamentally set up to lie, fib, and smudge the truth. We do it to avoid hurting others, and we do it to keep ourselves out of danger. Ironically, these two reasons of doing it are actually the end product of our interactions when we do not speak truth.

In short - truth speaking is that way of speaking, that voice and language, that vocabulary, that feel in words that provokes seriousness, and makes us focus on what is being said. We become one with the speaker and take what is said and understand it on a level far beyond that of just diction. We have communicated to each other in the fullest way possible.

I urge all that see this post to read this book. It can be downloaded for free, or purchased:

Free version:
http://teachingdrum.org/truthspeakingsample.pdf

Donations:
http://teachingdrum.org/writingsoftamaracksong.html?page=sacredspeech

Happiness Trials - A Review

About a year and month ago today I started the Happiness Trials on a now dead blog, and I followed it for 1 week.

What I did was - woke up, smiled as soon as I got out of bed. Brushed my teeth and smiled while looking in the mirror. Drove to work and smiled at the sky and at the road.

About 75% of the time it felt forced, and just felt like the muscles in my face were mimicking a smile. But about 25% of the time, the feel of happiness and actually smiling would cover my body. After the first few days I started getting explosions of bliss. I remember at one point I was 10 minutes from work and I couldn't stop smiling. It was taking over. I started laughing, almost hysterically in my car. No radio, no music, no friends, totally alone - laughing completely full of glee.

I would arrive at work every day in a completely different mood than others. I would feel approachable and I would feel as if I could approach anyone.

Now, over a year later, every day to work, I laugh a little to myself as I look into the sky. The clouds laugh with me, and the trees are bright with smiles. Its transformed my daily mood.. Just thought I would share.

"Mounds abound in peaceful glare,
The soggy ground with new green flare,
Life once silent now full of glee,
All this happens inside of me."
From my pen & ink drawing "Tree of Life":
https://www.etsy.com/listing/113944560/tree-of-life-abstract-surreal-natural?