DIVINE AND UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

“Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.”

― Erich Fromm

  The greatest secret of all, 

is the secret of falling in LOVE with the self.
When you love the self, you are in a state 

of acceptance, 

total acceptance.

 As you accept, you cease resisting the world 

and all that is in it.

 There are two kinds of Love. 

Human love and Divine Love. 

The difference between the two is that 

human or personal love 

is often conditional, or limited in nature; 

while divine love 

or spiritual love is infinite in nature, 

and unconditional. Often in personal 

or human love there are aspects of 

possessiveness, demand or expectation 

that is all based on condition, limitation, 

or material and selfish desire. 

Human love often seeks love outside 

of themselves because they feel they 

are lacking that love within 

themselves; it seeks a love that will 

fill a void within 

ones empty heart. Divine Love can not 

be realized this way. 

Conditions are temporary and change. 
If love is based on human conditions 

then it is subject to change and is 

often temporary, as it goes in many romantic 

relationships when one partner 

realizes that the other can not fulfill there 

every want and need. Love does not 

need anything outside of itself to sustain 

itself. The Love that comes 
from Source is within yourself and you have access 

to this Source Love 
at any moment because it transcends time and space.

 When unconditional love is the foundation of 

a relationship then it seeks to grow and 

remain in balance and harmony. 

Unconditional love can be likened 
to the root of the tree. In relationships 

where Divine or spiritual love 

is present the two seek to become 

one by growing into the tree together. 
This can only happen truly if there is a solid root 

of unconditional love from which it 

can grow. When conditional love is present 

there is often a lesson of love to be learned. 

This experience often brings pain and unresolved 

issues or karma is brought to the surface to be 

balanced and healed through Love. 
Our soulmates give us a beautiful opportunity for this. 

The more we resist that Love 
by seeing through only the perspective of ego 

then the relationship 
will usually come to an end and another opportunity 

may present itself to get 

our attention.

 If we have truly awakened to Divine 

and Unconditional love then we 

consciously understand the deeper meaning, and we 

realize that that everything and 
everyone in our external reality is merely an 

energetic reflection of our 

inner world and reality. We attract that which 

we are, what we think about and what 
we feel. We often see in another the very aspects of 

our own soul that require 
our attention, whether negative or positive. 

All is energy and negative and 
positive are just two degrees of the same whole. 

  Divine and unconditional love seek to understand, 

to accept, and to forgive. 

It seeks unity, which is its source. There is no 

need to possess or control 

and although challenges are common in all soulmate 

connections and relationships, 

each challenge gives us that precious opportunity 

to grow into ourselves 

and guides the way for the soul through 
this journey of life.

 Divine Love is the force that connects 

us all and is the essence 

of the Divine within and without. Love is 

a powerful force and through love 

anything is possible. Through Divine love you 

are connected to everything 

and everyone on that level and you are 

connected to Source. 
When Divine loves leads the way you see from 

a new perspective--from the perspective 
of the soul as opposed the limited mind-set 

of the human ego or personality. 
Through the unity perception of Divine Love 

you see the injustice, pain and suffering 

of the world 
from a different vantage point. You begin to allow 

love to become the force for 

change instead of anger, despair or sorrow.  

 http://www.twinflamesoulmates.com/divine-love.html

~YES TO SACRED LOVE~

Move into your Sacred Heart Center and allow the Sacred Love/Light of our Mother/Father God and the Creator to pour forth and fill you to overflowing. 

 Speak the words of love that fill your heart and mind!

Open your heart to all the possibilities of Sacred Love, and know that it is your Divine birthright to experience this most intimate gift. 

Twin Flame Relationship Signs

Upon first meeting one another there is an instant connection and immediate bond. The feeling is as if you have known each other before and there is a feeling of familiarity. Whether you have both met in physical person or not, there is usually a peculiar sensation--an intuitive knowing--that you will play an important role in each other's life. 

Most twinflame couples are physically at a distance or live in different countries. Often there is something that prevents the twinflames from being physically together in the beginning. This is usually because there is much energetic work to be done on the mental and emotional levels before the physical meeting can occur. If the physical meeting were to occur too soon the energy can often be too intense. 

The relationship is immediate, as though no time had been lost since you were last together. You feel comfortable with them and you feel you can truly be yourself with them. Sometimes conversation seem to last forever and there is not much that twinflames are not willing to talk about. It's as if you could share your entire life with this person and there is a level of openness and understanding between you that brings a comfortable yet intruiguing sense of familiarity.

 You feel an overwhelming sense of love and attraction. This love is genuine and heartfelt and you feel magnetically drawn to their energy. This is not to be confused with lust or an obsessive love. Twinflame love is unconditional and transcends the ego. If you have found your twinflame it does not mean that the relationship will necessarily be free from issues or personal conflict. There may still be lessons and healing that must take place between the twin souls. Twinflames are still human beings on the physical level. 

You feel a sense of completion that goes beyond words. This feeling is about wholeness on a soul level that is beyond the physical. Each twinflame is still an individual and is not 'the other half of your soul' as if you are a complete soul now that you have found them. You are meeting an energetic mirror of your own soul. You share a vibration and you resonate with them. You even feel an attraction to the sound of their voice and it may even sound familiar to you.

The eyes are the windows to the soul. When twinflames gaze into one another's eyes there is a profound intensity. Making eye contact with your twinflame can feel unusual at times because it is as if you are staring into your own soul; what you feel often depends on what aspect of your own soul your own soul you are seeing--anything that is being repressed or that needs to be healed will also be felt and reflected through the eyes.

Moments when there is a overwhelming feeling of unconditional love. The feeling can be felt very intensely in one or more of the chakra centres, especially the heart chakra. The love can be absolutely explosive and expands one into a feeling of oneness with their twin, and this feeling is often expanded to encompass a feeling of spiritual oneness with all things. The chemistry between the twins can be extremely powerful. There are moments of complete certainty that they are meant to be in each others lives for a reason, no matter what, and that there is a higher purpose for their union with one another. 

All emotions, whether negative or positive, is amplified between twin flames. Feelings are often exaggerated compared to other relationships. When things are good it feels incredibly good! But when things are not going so well, the feelings can be incredibly painful. There is more emotional and energetic intensity between twinflames because things are felt on a soul level. Since twinflames are often empathic with one another, it can become an overwhelming emotional roller coaster at times when they are absorbing each others emotions alongside feeling the intensity of their own.

Reoccurring numbers or repeated number sequences are are common occurrence within twinflame connections. The 11:11 and other number synchronicities are also a common feature. There may be similarities and synchronistic patterns found within each of the twinflames birthdates, anniversaries, addresses, phone numbers, anniversaries and major life events.

Both twinflames may have unusual dreams involving the other and telepathy often occurs between twins in the dream state. Many twinflames have shared or reoccurring dreams of one another, often prior to actually meeting their twin. Major themes in the twinflame relationship or issues that must be worked on together or in the individual life of one of the twins is often featured in dreams, and even in day dreams or visions.

Separation is a common theme in the twinflame relationship. There is usually a swinging back and forth from reunion to separation. The separation either occurs because of distance or an inability to be together in the physical for one or more reasons. Often the separations can occur if there is turbulence within the relationship due to unresolved emotional baggage that one or both of the twins is carrying. The reunion takes place again when healing is ready to occur. There is an intense repelling and magnetic attraction that takes place between twins; a pushing and pulling which indicates that much healing work still needs to be done before a permanent reunion can occur. 

The twinflame relationship changes your life. Each twin is transformed in many ways throughout the connection. The twinflame relationship challenges each soul to grow and expand into their highest potential to fulfill their mission and purpose on the planet and in each others lives. This constant changing and expansion can occur quite frequently and rapidly within the twinflame relationship. Often it is so intense that one of the twins may run from the relationship, or there may be difficulty in being together for long periods of time.

Twinflames are connected even at a distance. Telepathy and empathy are common between the twinflames. Each twin may pick up on the others thoughts they may find themselves often calling, texting, or emailing around the same time, and also finishing each others sentences. Synchronicities and unusual parallels often occur within the lives and daily events of each of the twinflames. 

 

 http://www.twinflamesoulmates.com/twin-flame-signs.html

IS A MONKEY MIND ROBBING YOU OF YOUR PEACE AND SERENITY

Monkey mind is a Buddhist expression which refers to the incessant chatter that goes on in our heads. When unchecked, it can drive us nuts (excuse the pun!)
Like a restless monkey jumping from branch to branch, the mind is always on the move, producing up to 100,000 thoughts per day (astonishing, isn't it!)!
With the frantic pace of  life these days, the modern monkey mind is more like King Kong crashing through the jungle on amphetamines. It is little wonder that inner peace can seem difficult to find.

It is estimated that our brains are bombarded with seven times as much stimuli as our grandparents experienced.
Add to this the rising stress levels caused by increased working hours and longer traffic jams and it is a wonder that many people can cope at all.

The good news, however, is that, no matter how busy the mind is and how distant the prospect of finding inner peace seems, it is always there, right under our noses (actually above our noses). We just need to know where to look.

Finding happiness and inner peace is an uncovering process. They are not experiences to be gained anew. When we strip away that which is covering it up, (the main thing being our addiction to thinking) we discover that the peace we are seeking has been there all along.

____________________________________________________________________

My days used to go something like this. i would finish eating breakfast without noticing the food because monkey mind was already thinking about the day's schedule. I would then arrive at work with no recollection of getting there, having been lost in obsessive thinking. At work, I was busy planning the weekend. My mind was never where my body was.
I was rarely present in the here and now (which is the only place where peace and joy are to be found.)


I remember taking my daughter to the park when she was about three years old. She pointed to the sky and excitedly squealed "airplane". I hadn't even noticed the park - which is amusing in a way but also tragic at the same time.


This is why children experience so much joy. Being largely free of mental chatter, they are absolutely present in the here and now. Their monkey minds have not developed yet.
In truth, happiness never leaves us. We are simply unaware of the happiness which is always there, through being constantly distracted by our monkey minds. We can only notice the wonder and the beauty that surrounds us when we are present.
________________________________________________________________  

PEAK EXPERIENCES

At times, everyone has, what psychologist Abraham Maslow, calls peak experiences.

I will never forget a visit to The Shetland Islands many years ago. I was fortunate enough to witness what many of the locals described as the most spectacular display of the Northern Lights they had seen in years.

Just for a moment, as I gazed upon the spectacle, my mind was stunned into silence. A profound feeling of connection and well-being swept over me. In that perfect moment I felt utterly at peace - with no sense of anything missing.

A moment later, a thought appeared: "I must phone my partner and tell her. As I re-engaged with the mind, the experience was gone.

And that is how it works. In the absence of thinking, the bliss which is our true nature is experienced.

It is still there when we are lost in our monkey mind but we are simply too distracted to notice.

SO HOW TO TAME THE MONKEY MIND?

I'll answer with a story. There was a village in India which was infested with monkeys. They were a real problem. They were not afraid of the villagers and would go into the houses looking for for food and occasionally attack people.

All the villagers carried long sticks with them which they used to beat the monkeys and try to chase them away. This only annoyed the monkeys more. They tried everything.

They boarded up the doors and windows to keep the monkeys out. Sometimes they would catch one in a net and take it out of the village but they would always return looking for food. The villagers were at their wits end.

One day a holy man entered the village and observed what was going on. He laughed and said "I have another solution. Why don't you try planting a banana plantation on the outskirts of the village and see what happens."

The villagers followed his advice. And it worked. The monkeys were more interested in the delicious bananas and happily rested in the trees, leaving the villagers in peace.

_______________________________________________________________

WHAT YOU RESIST PERSISTS

You may have heard the expression "What you resist persists." As long as we fight against the monkey mind, we give it more energy and make it stronger. As long as we try to beat our thoughts away with sticks we make them bigger.

In my work as a coach, I have met so many people who have tried one therapy after another to find a solution to their depression, anxiety or unhappiness. Five years can pass with little change. This is because focusing on the problem only makes it bigger. It is a paradox that by trying to find happiness we only push it further away.

I have also seen people cured of lifelong depression in a one-hour session ...simply through seeing that the mind is not the problem, rather our relationship to it.


Awareness is the key. Through understanding how the mind works, our relationship with monkey mind changes and we become free of the influence of thinking.

You are not broken... you are merely distracted. There is nothing to change and nothing to fix ...only something to SEE!


 An excerpt from the book:
Kick the Thinking Habit 
http://www.find-happiness.com/

How to Cut the Etheric Cords With Another

When  some energetic connections
in your present life,
are NOT beneficial and no longer serve you,
they can be energetically draining,
without you even knowing it.

-AngieKaran -

 

The reason why people cut cords with others is to generally move on from a person and let them go energetically - this means on an energy level. People who we are close to form energetic bonds with us that resemble cords of energy that link one person to the other. These are etheric cords, so think of ether as a kind of energy. Those who have seen the cords (and often we can see them in meditation for example) describe them as dark in colour. The bonding itself can be light with just a slim cord, or you can be corded heavily with another through your chakras and can have multiple thick cording that literally shows your attachment, either mentally,emotionally, sexually, or all of the above.

Of course, when you care about another, the cording is not a problem. The cords act as a way we send and receive psychic energy between charkras, theirs and ours. The more energy we send, the bigger the cords, and this is normal in any relationship. Communication between chakras is how a lot of communication happens between people. However, when we want to let someone go because we aren't moving on, the cords and the continuing psychic/energy communication between them and us can hold us back. Luckily there are easy ways to remove the cords; no cord is meant to be forever. Whether cords reform again is entirely up to us, but when we are ready to let someone go, we probably won't go to the effort of reforming the psychic ties any longer.

Symptoms of heavy cording include:

Unable to move on
Unable to stop thinking or obsessing about a person
Frequent conversations in your mind with a person
Frequently remembering what they said in the past, feeling their ongoing judgment or criticism
Arguments, sometimes daily in your mind with someone (these can be actual psychic arguments)
Constant memories or emotions that arise - i.e. we used to watch that show together
Temptation to go back to a relationship that does not serve you
Stalking another online through social networking, watching them compulsively
Unable to sleep, or endless processing of the past
Deep feelings of sadness, anger, and depression around the past
Feelings of wanting to get revenge, or constantly aware of unfair treatment
Crying a whole lot, an emotional wreck
Turning down other offers and invitations, stuck in the past, feeling uninterested

What can you expect once the cords are cut?

In simple terms, you can expect to find your mind no longer dwells upon the person as the psychic attachment has been dissolved. Your mind is quieter, calmer and it is like cleaning out a closet - all those old emotions associated with that person dissolve as the communication between you ends. You now have extra space in your mind to fill with something better, and you will certainly be clearer in intent.

Imagine the freedom you can feel having that extra peace of mind, letting go of unwanted baggage, not to mention being free emotionally as well. If this sounds too good, you may be wondering why don't we all do this on a regular basis, why don't people know about this? The reason is simply we are never taught. In a world where we tend to believe in only what we see, such psychic cords of attachment go unnoticed and so we tend to carry unwanted energy and connections around with us many more years than we need to.

When you do a cord cutting on the etheric cords that bind you, the above listed symptoms lift. Some people charge money to cut the cords for you, this is entirely unnecessary as it is only you who can do this for yourself, not another.

With Whom Should We Cut Cords?

You can cut the cords with any person who is bothersome to you psychically. This is to say anyone who sends you strong energy and who intrudes on your thoughts and emotions even when you are alone. If you are done with a person but find they always intrude on your thoughts and you can feel them around you or in your mind, you can cut the connection by cutting the etheric cords that attach the both of you.

Some people with strong sexual bonds can find relief here as well by disconnection your sexual chakra to theirs, if such a bond was once formed. If an old flame was harmful or hurtful to you in some way, being free on all levels is incomparable. You literally move on and a new space is formed around you. You can then proceed to fill that space with more amiable and pleasant thoughts and feelings.

You can also cut the cords with any person who has abused you, either physically or emotionally. Victims of any crime ( rape, beating, even bullying) can form bonds with the perpetrators that continue on energetically, even long after the crime. Cutting these bonds will help healing that much faster. This will help you to release the pain and clear out your energy field or aura of that trauma.

You can certainly continue to cut the cords until they no longer recur and you have completely moved on. If a cord cutting fails, this indicates you are not willing to really let someone go yet. This is okay; it just means you aren't truly ready to move on. There may be a lesson in this relationship you have yet to master and your current attachment is giving you the opportunity to learn the lesson for good.

We come now  to the actual cord cutting. As this website is all about Angels, they are the ones who can facilitate this process for us. Ask, and you shall receive dear ones.

The Process of Cord Cutting

Cord cutting is done in conjunction with our loving Angels and Spirit Guides, who surgically remove the etheric cords that bind, cutting them completely from our auric field. Whilst it is our angels who do the work for us of cutting and removing, our job is to ASK them to do so. We can't just assume our angels 'know' we want our cords cut. Angels cannot intervene unless we invite them to do so, therefore we must actually ask or invoke our angels and guides into action. Fortunately this is very easy to do and takes no time at all.

Simply say the following words or a version of them with intent.

I ask my angels and spirit guides to help me in this task. I wish to free myself for all eternity from ___(name)___ so that both of us may go free from ties that bind and all energy attachments from the past. It is time to move past the experiences we have shared. I am thankful for what I have learned and lessons given, but this attachment is no longer needed and is holding me back and affecting my 'now'.

With power I now ask for all cords to be cut, for all energetic cords physically connecting the two of us to be removed, dissolved, transmuted and cut free, and all energy to be returned to the original sender.

It is my intention that no more energy attachments hook onto me from ___(name)___.  With forgiveness and peace I release them to move away from me and move on whilst I do the same.

I now call upon Archangel Michael to use his mighty blue sword (or Sananda, Saint Germaine, Kwan Yin, Mother Mary) to surround me and cut away the cords and give me protection. I ask that this be complete and sealed NOW. Please cleanse my aura of negative energy and emotions, and seal it with love. Amen.


~~~~~~~~~~~~
Spend a few minutes after repeating these words just quietly sitting and breathing calmly whilst your angels work on your energy to remove the etheric cords and hooks. You may notice a shift in your energy at once or you may not, it does not matter. Know that any sensations or warmth you feel during this process is completely safe, please surrender to it and have faith, for this is being performed for you now. You might want to offer up any other prayers or invitations to the angels for help in your life.

A good time to use this invocation is just before going to sleep. You can use it as often as you wish, on as many people also that you wish to release from you. It will begin to work immediately as long as you do not reform an attachment to them again.

 This article is from

www.askingangels.com

Feeding the Sacral Chakra

 

• 5 November 2014 at 17:01

• Healing Food

The sacral chakra, nestled in the region of the lower belly, yokes us to the water element and its eternal state of movement and dynamic change. It is the hub of creative potential.

Chakra Foods for Optimum Health

Our sacral chakra assists us in wielding and manifesting our internal raw creativity into an external form involving visual arts, body expression and sound. Artists, painters, musicians and creators are examples of those in touch with their sacral chakra.
Food and eating represent a functional, survival-based activity, and one of the ways to ensure that we eat is to involve the sensory aspects of our physical body. When we eat, we eat with all of our senses: our sight, touch, taste, smell and sound. Our physiology and our sacral chakra are designed to ensure that we gain pleasure from our eating experience.
There are specific compounds (peptides) released in the gut when we eat a meal that communicate with our brain to help our body decipher that we are experiencing pleasure from the experience. Recently, it has come to light that we have taste receptors in our gut similar to those found on our tongue, so we taste food beyond the mouth, even in the territory of the sacral chakra.
Overall, this chakra is strongly and tightly woven into our eating experience at a deep, gut, sensory level. Rather than for pure survival, we look to the food for pleasure with the help of our sacral chakra.

Foods for the Sacral Chakra

Seeds

Seeds like flax, poppy, psyllium, pumpkin, hemp, sesame and sunflower are therapeutic for the sacral chakra due to their rich source of healthy fats. Flaxseed deserves special mention because it is a healing food for the sacral chakra from a couple of perspectives. First of all, it contains oil rich in unsaturated essential fats. Although not as flexible and fluid as the fats found in fish, flaxseed oil can be used in the body to create flow.
The other aspect of flaxseed is that it is rich in plant compounds called lignans, which act like weak estrogens and are able to compete with estrogen in the body to sit on receptor sites on cells. If the body has too much or too little estrogen, having plant estrogens like flax in the diet could be beneficial. Because of their ability to influence estrogen activity in the body, they are thought to reduce the risk of breast, prostate and colon cancers. Thus, the energetic and physiological properties of flaxseed fit the needs of the sacral chakra, which oversees the reproductive organs in women and the colon. The benefits can extend into the territory of the neighboring root chakra by protecting against prostate cancer.

Tropical Fruits

When allowed to blossom, the sacral chakra fills and soothes us with delight, joy, relaxation, pleasure and freedom of choice. It resonates to fruits grown in tropical areas, as they embody these same qualities. Mangoes, pineapple, papaya, banana (also connects to the solar plexus), oranges, kiwi, figs and coconut are superb examples of nourishing sacral chakra tropical fruits.
Eating these fruits enables us to open our inner self to feeling free and relaxed. Coconut and its oil are particularly appropriate for this energetic vibration. Coconut can heal and strengthen the bridge between the two lower chakras. It’s a sturdy fruit with a strong protective layer, paralleling the root chakra’s boundaries. It is filled with nourishing milk and soft flesh, both which assist the sacral chakra in feeling comfort to open up. Raw coconut butter is a tasty, root-sacral chakra treat.

Fruits:

Apricots

Blood oranges

Cantaloupes

Kumquats

Mandarins

Mangoes

Nectarines

Oranges

Papayas

Passion fruit

Peaches

Persimmons

Tangerines

Vegetables:

Carrots

Orange bell peppers

Pumpkin

Sweet potatoes

Yams

Nuts

Similar to coconut, all nuts have qualities that strengthen the lower two chakras. The oils in the nuts combined with protein make for a perfect food for combining grounding (root chakra) and flowing (sacral chakra) qualities. Cashews are an excellent choice for the sacral chakra. Note their moonlike structure, resonating with the yin, or feminine quality, of the sacral chakra. Walnuts resemble the complicated brain structure and are, indeed, one of the richest nut sources of omega-3 fats, which are needed for the brain. Almonds, pecans, filberts, hazelnuts, pistachios, Brazil nuts, pine nuts and macadamia nuts are other fine nut choices to support the sacral and root chakras.

Orange-Colored Foods

The healthy sacral chakra vibrates at a frequency similar to the color orange. Viewing or eating orange-colored foods can help to restore the sacral chakra to its correct vibration.
On a nutritional level, most of these orange foods collectively provide beta-carotene (an orange pigment) and other plant carotenoids. They are absorbed into our bodies with the assistance of fat as a carrier and stored in the cell membranes, where they take on the job of protecting the cell.

Sacral Food and Eating Activities

Here are simple activities to create a healthy relationship between foods, eating and the sacral chakra.

• Combine food and creativity in any way you choose, ranging from meal preparation to a unique way to shop at the grocery store (for example, shopping only for orange foods) to a novel way to grow food (such as using hydroponics, or the water element, which is conducive to the sacral chakra). Write about your creation and share it with another.
• Invite someone over for dinner and create a meal together.
• Pick an emotion that plagues your daily life and journal on how you better express this emotion throughout your life in a healthy way. How do you “eat” this emotion rather than expressing it? What foods do you gravitate toward when you feel this emotion? What do these foods signify?

~by Dr Deanna Minich, author of Chakra Foods for Optimum Health
http://foodandspirit.com/

`~MEDITATION calms the mind~`

Beauty In Everything + Poetry 

Some people think that the purpose of meditation is to stop the mind. They sit, and they try. Soon they get into a fight with their mind, a fight that they lose. Frustrated, they give up. Do you recognize yourself in this scenario?
Calming the mind is a more appropriate goal, and a good way to do it is by paying attention to the breath. When we are daydreaming, the breath follows the rhythm of our thoughts. That rhythm can be irregular, because we are going from thought to thought, from one thing to another. As we continue to follow the breath instead of our thoughts, the breath gets into a steady, regular rhythm.
Usually we follow our thoughts without any attention to the breath. Here, we reverse that— we follow our breath. At the beginning, we treat our thoughts a little bit like the way we treat the radio in the background. As we do other things, we are aware that the radio is playing, but we do not follow it actively. For example, when the announcer says, “Go and buy that car right now, because it is so amazing,” we do not drop everything and rush out to buy it. We have learned to take an attitude of sophisticated detachment with regard to the radio. Now we cultivate the same detached attitude toward our thoughts.
Our work in meditation right now is concentrating on the breath. This means staying with the breath and the sensations of the breath continuously. I don’t know if you have ever followed a single breath from end to end and paid attention to all the sensations that occur. One single breath can make you aware of your posture, of how tight your belt is, and of any tension in your abdominal muscles.
The breath is like a swing on the playground. As you breathe in, first it accelerates. Then it slows down near the end. Then it comes to an unstable stop and starts going again in the other direction. The speed is always changing. To notice all this, you need not only awareness, but also concentration. You need to concentrate so that you are not only aware during brief moments of this cycle, but you are continuously aware of it during the whole cycle, cycle after cycle.
I Can Feel My Breath in a Number of Ways:

• I can feel it in my diaphragm.
• I can feel my clothes adjusting as my diaphragm changes shape.
• I can feel the rush of air in my nostrils.
• I can also feel a coolness around my nostrils as I breathe in.

If you have trouble noticing that last item, put your finger horizontally against your nostrils for a few seconds. You will feel the change of temperature as you breathe in and out.

By concentrating on the breath, we are offering the mind something other than thoughts to chew on. This works better than fighting with it to get it to slow down.

Within a few minutes, something different starts to happen: the breath finds its natural rhythm. In normal wakefulness, thoughts are zipping through the mind, and the breath is irregular and staccato. Now the breath follows a more regular rhythm, like that of the waves on the beach. Like the waves, the breath comes from somewhere we don’t know. Then it goes inside, and gets lost, like the waves that get absorbed into the sand. Some of the water gets returned back to the ocean, but it is not exactly the same. Now it has cleaned the beach and is carrying back some debris and also the warmth of the sand with it. The breath has also just cleaned the body, and the out breath is warm and full of carbon dioxide. You can let yourself be guided by this mental imagery. Involve all your senses and now bask in the sunshine on that beach for a few minutes and enjoy the whishsh of the waves.

Another metaphor: What is happening in the mind at this point is also a little bit like the difference between city driving and long- distance driving. In city driving, there is much stopping and starting and emotions like impatience or irritation. When you settle into long-distance driving, all those calm down. The rhythm changes.

During this breathing exercise, you may find that, after a while, concentration comes naturally. At the beginning, concentration required effort. Now this natural rhythm of the breath takes over. Thoughts lose their urgency at this stage.

Meditation exercise to calm the mind

Read this and other meditation texts slowly, with a short pause between instructions.

The past has already gone and the future is yet to come.
I am concentrating on being peaceful, happy, and free in this present moment.

Now I’m concentrating on being aware of each breath.
My attention on the breath is continuous.
I follow the breath as it begins, and my abdomen starts to expand.
I continue to pay attention as my abdomen rises and falls with each breath,
like a child going high and low on a swing.

Like a swing, my breath slows down at each end.
I follow it all the way as it slows down, and starts again.

I embrace my breath with all my care and attention,
like a mother holds her baby.
I do not drop the baby.
Thoughts stay in the background.

I enjoy the rhythmic rise and fall of my abdomen;
I enjoy staying in the here and the now.
I have stopped running forward and backward.

My mind keeps producing thoughts; that is its nature.
I do not follow the thoughts.
I concentrate on my breath.

I’m comfortable and at ease.
With each breath, I let go of tension somewhere in my body and mind.

I’m aware that thoughts can bring tension to my face.
With each breath, I relax my face muscles and smile.

There are sensations in my body, I accept them. I am aware of my posture.
I am aware of the rush of air around my nostrils as I breathe in.

If there are sounds, I do not react to them.
I just notice them and let them go.
I continue to enjoy my breathing peacefully.

A river of feelings and thoughts is flowing, but I am not drowning in it.
The concentration on the breath is like the anchor that
prevents the boat from drift ing.

Focusing on my breath keeps me from getting lost in thought.
I notice sounds and skin sensations without reacting to them.

I smile at disturbances such as memories, little itches, and noises.
Smiling relaxes me. I feel content.

With each breath I arrive in the here and the now—
I’m sitting upright, breathing comfortably.

My mind is peaceful, my body free of tension.
I am calm and rested.
I feel free. I feel at home.

 An excerpt from Buddha's Book of Sleep by Joseph Emet