Serenity comes from within.  External solutions to our problems only offer temporary solutions.

Recent college graduates with large loans to repay are desperately trying to find work and quickly losing hope.

Highly successful professionals are having trouble sleeping as the stress from being unemployed for several months is mounting at a time when their spouses are worried about losing everything – including their homes.

Financial planners are dealing with unprecedented anxiety resulting from the hostility coming their way from their normally sane clients who are irate over losses in net worth.

There are many ways of dealing with stress.

Exercise is great for temporarily reducing stress because it allows us to take our minds off of problems while getting our heart rates elevated and sweating out toxins.  Some of my best ideas are created while at the gym exercising and mentally preparing for the days, weeks and months ahead.  If I could exercise all day, I might be able to permanently eliminate fear.

Recitation of affirmations (statements of fact or belief) is another great habit because it allows us to fill our minds with the kinds of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. The repetition of our goals in present tense, sentences full of emotion enables us to create behaviors and attitudes that will become  2nd nature to us.  When these affirmations are only based upon our goals and our ideas only, the mind of God is separated from our own minds.

If you’re exercising and reciting affirmations on a daily basis, you are already in the habit of proactively taking care of your body and mind.  Congratulations!

There is another habit that I’d like to introduce to you if it’s not already part of your daily routine.  I’d like to encourage you to begin the practice of daily meditation as part of your proactive health. This is a practice that positively impacts your body, mind and spirit.

Meditation is the practice of silencing each of the 60,000+ thoughts per day that we engage in long enough to listen to ourselves – our divinity within.  Meditation allows us to relax our bodies while we’re focusing or silencing our minds.  Deep, slow breaths begin the process of slowing down and becoming comfortable with ourselves and with the solitude.

You can meditate in many different positions. You can meditate while walking or exercising.  When meditating in the silence of your home, it can be done in the lotus position with a little practice.  I will frequently stop my work day and meditate while sitting in my chair in front of my desk for 5-10 minutes.  You can also meditate while lying on a couch or in bed as long as you’re not so tired that you’ll fall asleep!

The practice of daily meditation allows us to answer meaning-of-life questions such as:

Who am I? Why am I here? What do I want?
Where am I going? Where did I come from?

Meditation is starting to become part of our culture in the west, but is nowhere near as popular as it should be. Many of us today are absent of silence except when we’re sleeping. We wake up to the sound of the radio or iPod.  The radio or television is on while where preparing for work or school.  The radio or iPod is on while we’re driving or commuting. The computer is mesmerizing us for 8+hours per day at work or school. Those of us who aren’t married to the computer are either in meetings or conference calls throughout the day or having an affair with our Blackberrys and iPods. After work, it’s radio in the car, iPod while at the gym and television during dinner and then back on the computer or television until it’s time for sleep.

Do you ever allow yourself the luxury of silence?  Do you ever allow yourself to slow down and become silent enough to pay attention to your breath or pulse?  Have you ever slowed down long enough to answer the 5 questions above?

There are several different types of meditation.  Some meditations involve focusing  our thoughts by paying attention to our breath. When first meditating, we have to get used to the habit of not thinking.  The Buddhists call a mind that is jumping haphazardly from one subject to the next like a monkey swinging from branch to branch a monkey’s mind. By practicing focusing on an object such as a candle flame, light or object or paying attention to our breath (deep and slow versus shallow and fast), we become aware of the art of focus or mindfulness.

One of the meditations that I gravitated to when I was new to meditation and have maintained involves Buddhist prayers for self and others.  I use this meditation as a process for praying for specific individuals in my life who have either asked for my prayers or desperately need them.  While sitting or lying in silence I think of the individual and silently pray, “May you be happy, may you be peaceful, may you be free from suffering.” It’s also an excellent individual prayer.  With eyes closed after taking several deep, slow cleansing breaths, I repeat: “May I be happy, may I be peaceful, may I be free from suffering.”

This particular style of meditation really helped me to grow in the art of unconditional love. It’s easy praying for people that you know and love.  It’s still pretty easy praying for people we feel neutral about – someone from work, church or the gym – that need our prayers.  Buddhists would have us feeling unconditional love towards everyone – even people who have hurt us mentally or physically.

This prayer meditation allows us to pray for ourselves, individuals who fall into all 3 categories (people we already love, people we feel neutral about and people who we find it very difficult to love – sometimes called hatred) and for entire groups of people.  Can you imagine unconditionally loving every human in the world – starting with yourself?  Baby steps…

Another style of meditation involves the repetition of a word or phrase.  You can repeat words or phrases such as:

Love is the answer | Peace is within me | Patience | Don’t worry, be happy

There are meditations that allow you to meditate while walking or exercising. I’ve used the walking meditations while on an elliptical machine at the gym and been amazed at how fast the workout goes by as I’m lost within my deliberately focused mind.

One of the ways that I’ve been very successful using meditation is to slow down and relax my mind and body enough to be able to fall back to sleep in the middle of the night.  By the time I get to bed at night, I’m usually so exhausted that it’s very easy for me to fall asleep. Frequently, I’ll wake-up in the middle of the night on my own or as a result of an elbow (intentional?) from my wife.  Once I wake up, my mind frequently starts working and racing.  When it’s still too early for me to get up, I implement a meditation that allows me to relax my body beginning with my feet and then working my way up to my head.  I can’t tell you how much that practice has helped me to make sure that I’m getting enough sleep. Prior to implementing the practice of meditating to fall back to sleep, I’d frequently get up and begin my workday at 1, 2 or 3AM rather than stay in bed fidgeting and disturbing my wife.

I first began the practice of meditating after reading the book Eat, Pray, Love. My initial intention was to develop a deeper relationship with God. From reading that book and several others, I became aware that God is found in the silence of our minds. It’s our absence of thoughts that allows us to create room for God. It’s hard to listen to God when there is always loud, external stimulation present. My goal was to silence my ego enough to eliminate my thoughts and listen to God’s. Because I was guilty of the non-stop lifestyle that I mentioned earlier, I wanted to develop the habit of being able to listen to myself and to God. I realized that because I was always doing something, listening to something or saying something (even if it was prayer), I was never just being or listening. I was always doing.

Could my prayers be better if I slowed down long enough to listen for answers?

Would I be able to better deal with all that was going on in my world if I deliberately asked God to be with me in specially carved time for silence and co-creation?

Could I use meditation to really focus on words of scripture to understand the true meaning of words that I professed to be the foundation of my faith?

I mentioned students, executives and financial planners as real examples of people who are living with fear – fear of not getting the first job, fear of not getting a new job, fear of losing people’s hard earned retirement savings.  I’d recommend meditating on components of scripture such as the following verse: “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.  For fear has to do with punishment, and he who fears is not perfected in love.”

What could the meditation be for each of us to eliminate fear from our lives?  “Dear God, fill me with your love and eliminate my fear” or “God, I love you and trust you”.

If you’re experiencing fear in any aspect of your life, you can begin meditating this instant by simply doing the following:

• Go someplace that is quiet – office, bedroom, conference room, car, etc.
• Either lay down or sit comfortably in a chair with good posture
• Close your eyes and take several slow, deep breaths while allowing yourself to focus on your breath
• Once you’ve slowed yourself down and relaxed, simply repeat the phrase or mantra of choice such as “God, I love you and trust you”.
• Repeat your prayer or mantra slowly several times for at least five minutes
• Over time, you’ll become comfortable meditating for longer periods of time.

A close friend of mine recently told me that she felt guilty taking the time to meditate. I am convinced that it’s our absence of time caring for ourselves and divorcing ourselves from God that has caused many of our physical, mental and spiritual problems.

Our fullness and completeness comes from our relationship with God. The emptiness that we feel inside us and in our lives is created by the space where God is supposed to reside.  When we allow God’s words to infiltrate our minds and his Spirit to reside in our souls, we begin to develop trust in God and ourselves.  We are filled with love for God, love for ourselves and love for others.  The love that fills our minds and souls pushes out the fear that used to occupy that space.

Allocating time to meditate on a daily basis is an investment in your mental, physical and spiritual health.

Meditation allows us to become comfortable enough with ourselves to slow down, focus and listen to our own thoughts on a daily basis.  If you have the desire to incorporate spirituality into your meditation, this will become part of your daily practice to improve your relationship with God and proceed toward enlightenment.  Meditating is a practice that complements prayer, reading of scripture, serving others and group worship.

Making time to listen and co-create is yet another way of inviting God into your life each and every day.

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Have you lost your wisdom teaching?

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Many people have completely thrown away the teachings of the most important knowledge in the world because of alienation with the institutions associated with the teachings.

At this time of year, many parents of high school juniors and seniors and their children are traveling around the world looking at colleges and universities to receive higher education. If scholarships are not involved, many families consider spending 20, 30, 40 or $50,000+ per year for this education.

What type of education and degrees are we willing to spend this kind of money on?  Law, Engineering, Pre-med, Business, Liberal Arts, Art, Music, Psychology, etc.

Will you please answer these questions?

If you wanted to eliminate war from the face of the earth and instruct people how to peacefully co-exist, what type of education would you give to people?

If you wanted to eliminate hunger and homelessness forever, what would be the types of courses you’d make mandatory?

If you wanted to educate individuals on their power to cause the changes that they desire for themselves, their families and the world, what would you teach?

If you wanted drug and alcohol abuse to become a thing of the past, what would we teach people?

If you wanted each person in the world to have equally high self-esteem, what would we teach?

If you wanted to reduce or eliminate our dependance upon counselors, psychiatrists and psychologists, what would we have people learn?

What did you come up with?

I came-up with a self-study program that would either be free or cost less than $100. The education that I’m talking about which would solve each of these problems is available in a book or two for free at any library or for less than $100 at a bookstore.

Most of us had parents who raised us by bringing us to a religious service on a weekly or very frequent basis.  Are you aware that today 17% of people go to religious services on a regular basis (more than 3 times per year)?

One of the reasons that our parents or grandparents attended services on a regular basis is that this service was the primary form of education within many faiths.

Did the education and knowledge that people found to be the foundation of their values for the last 2000+ years suddenly become irrelevant with my generation and by default for our children?

Do we really think that sports practice, dance lessons and Xbox 360 and Nintendo are really better uses of our time than developing our spiritual health?

I understand that many people have become alienated with the institutions themselves and/or with the fighting going on in the world which frequently seems to have religious ties.

If you’re unhappy with your particular house of worship, I’ll encourage you to do one of the following:

• Ask yourself if you’re letting the messenger get in the way of the message. The message is always good.
• If you can’t get past the messenger, search for a new house of worship whose messenger is more consistent with your personality.
• If that doesn’t work, create a home-study program for yourself and your family that allows you to spend time weekly (or daily) studying your faith and/or multiple faiths. In addition, meditation and prayer are habits that can be conducted anywhere at any time.

I don’t know of any God or any faith that promotes war.  Do you?  Any person that is using God as an excuse for war has corrupted the message that Allah, Jesus, Buddha and all of the spiritual teachings that I’m aware of.

The education that I believe each of us should receive, which would serve as the foundation for the education that we’ll need for our vocation, is an education on how to live with God-like qualities.

• Unconditional Love
• Integrity
• Service to others
• Kindness

Yesterday’s topic on BlogTalkRadio was God.  Greg Stewart and I talked about some definitions of, perceptions of and reasons for believing in God.

A lot of people fight against the idea of God being real because they’ve never shaken God’s hand or been able to pull up any of God’s clips on YouTube.

I admit that going from a position of “I don’t believe in God” to “God is the center of my life and basis for each of my thoughts and actions” is a drastic jump. What I’ve recommended to many people who are interested in understanding and developing a relationship with God or living with God-like qualities on a daily basis is the following two-step process.

Here’s the first step.  Read the teachings of  people like Jesus and Buddha like you were reading any other book that you had to read while in high school or college. While reading the teachings, ask yourself the following types of questions:

• Do I agree with this principle?
• Do I incorporate this teaching into how I run my life today?
  • If I agree with it and am not living it, why not?
• Would I be a better person if I practiced what this teacher taught?
• What type of person would I be if I began thinking, believing and behaving in this manner?
  • Do I like what I’m capable of becoming?
• What would my community (or the world) be like if others lived their lives in this fashion?
• Could we eliminate each of the problems listed above if others were educated and lived with this knowledge?

This first step allows us to come to know how the world’s greatest teachers of truth have advised us to proceed towards enlightenment.

The second step is for you to decide how you want to proceed based upon 3 possible outcomes.

The first possible outcome (I don’t believe in these teachings)

After reading these teachings, you might decide that you absolutely disagree with these concepts.  I doubt it but, it’s a possibility. If you do, you’ve made an educated decision.

The second possible outcome (I believe in these teachings and commit to living them but, I still don’t believe in God)

A second possible outcome would be that you’ve decided that this teacher or these teachers were very wise and that you and I would have happier lives and live in a peaceful world if each of us truly implemented the teachings.

I’ve thought about what the world would be like if each of us were educated in these principles and implemented them – even if we still didn’t believe in God.

We’d have a world without weapons -assault weapons, tanks, fighter jets – because there would be no need for them.

We’d have a world where people were better at listening to and understanding each other than ordering around and giving ultimatums.  If we had disagreements – and we would – we would engage in conversation with the expectation of coming to peaceful outcomes.

We would have a world that treats every person on the planet with dignity and respect.

We would allocate our tax dollars toward education and solving the hunger and homeless issues instead of funding war with and security from our family members.

The third possible outcome (I believe in God)

A third possible outcome would be that you would come to believe that these teachings could have only come from someone with much higher thoughts about love, peace and compassion than any human you’ve ever met. That these thoughts were designed to have us works toward perfect love.

You might come to believe that there is tremendous causative, creative power that exists within you that manifests itself when aligned with the teachings that you’ve learned and implemented. You might come to believe that you have the ability to co-create solutions to every problem that exists when you combine your consciousness with that of God.

You might come to believe that the life that exists within you was created by and comes from the spirit of God that is dwelling within you and I and within every person in the world.

You might come to develop faith in a spiritual power that created the world and everything in it that you’ve never physically seen or touched.

We can’t ask others to do what we’re not willing to do ourselves.

Are you willing to make an educated decision for yourself?

Are you willing to discover  whether or not you believe in and are willing to implement what the teachers of truth have taught us?

A WORD of CAUTION: These principles when acted upon will cause you to change and could possibly result in Sainthood and Enlightenment.

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Have you ever felt disappointed or discouraged? We all have. Was it disappointment in yourself or was it disappointment in something or someone external to you? Let’s see if we can differentiate between the two.

One of my favorite definitions of disappointment is, “It’s when I had an appointment with myself that I failed to keep.”

I frequently ask groups of people that I’m speaking with “Are people more likely to keep commitments that they make to others or to themselves”? The almost unanimous answer that I receive is that most people are more likely to keep commitments that they make to another person than the commitments that they make to themselves.

Is that because we tend to love others more than we love ourselves? Is it because I don’t want to disappoint you but, I’m okay disappointing myself?

Love your neighbor, love yourself, love your God.  Sometimes we forget the one in the middle!

The official Webster’s II definition of disappoint is, “To fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of. To Frustrate.”

The Webster’s II definition of discourage is, “To deprive of confidence, hope or spirit”.

Now that we’ve officially defined the meanings of the feelings of discouraged and disappointed, we can now talk about why we feel that way and how to limit those feelings in the future.

When a baby is born, that child gives great joy to everyone around because it is just being itself.  Babies don’t yet have roles and responsibilities such as mother, father, manager, daughter, son, employer, employee, provider, etc.  As we grow up, roles are either assigned to us by parents, coaches and teachers or taken on by us willingly.

Babies have the ability to bring us joy by simply being with us. We are moved to smile by their cooing, by their drool, by their beautiful eyes and by their smile.  How can they bring us so much joy without the ability to say a single word or do anything for us?

Did you ever notice how happy we are just being in silence with them?

I think that we tend to look at babies as special gifts from God who have this perfect, beautiful spirit about them. That’s because they do.  You and I do too. We are Perfect Spirits.

I wonder if you and I could begin looking at ourselves in the same way that we look at these beautiful little innocent babies?  That’s how our parents and God looked at us when we were born. I believe that’s how God still looks at us today.

“I am a Perfect Spirit.” Try saying that several times a day.  See how long it will take for you to believe it!

The Spirit that dwells in each of us is hungry to be fueled and ignited by our connection to God.  It is our relationship with, connection to and understanding of God that allows us to nurture and develop our Spirit.

We feel a special connection to an infant when we simply hold that child in our arms in silence. We feel that same connection to God when we slow down enough and become silent enough to allow God to hold us and embrace us with the same kind of unconditional love.

Can you and I begin looking at ourselves as beautiful, innocent Perfect Spirits who were created in the image and likeness of God’s Spirit?  Can we acknowledge that we too can bring tremendous pleasure to everyone around us by simply just being present and smiling and listening?

You are lovable just by being you. You don’t need any material possessions to make you lovable. You were lovable at birth, you’ll be lovable when your earthly body is dying and you’re lovable today.

Can we realize that our value was very high in God’s eyes at birth and it will continue to be quite high in God’s eyes every single day for ever and ever. Our value – our True Net Worth – is consistent throughout our lives because we were born with tremendous value and potential. That value and potential remains inside of us whether we choose to use it or not.

Potential for what?  To develop spiritually. To become the loving and compassionate people that we’re all capable of being.  If our spiritual development becomes our main priority and we’re feeling content in knowing that we’re doing all that we can, would we not feel encouraged and like we had truly kept our appointment with ourselves?

Our True Net Worth has nothing to do with our financial net worth. At the end of our life, we will not be rated based upon our accumulation of cars, homes, jewelry, art and money. Instead of evaluating ourselves based upon our financial net worth, how about if we started focusing more heavily on our Spiritual development – our True Net Worth?

Let’s go back to the definition of discourage: To deprive of confidence, hope or spirit.  Spirit is the piece of divinity that resides within each of us.  It is a gift that is given to us that can never be taken away without our permission.  No one can deprive you of your Spirit.

Our jobs can be taken away from us. We were born without jobs and we’ll leave this plane of existence without a job.

We can lose our cars or homes for a variety of very good reasons. These are assets that frequently depreciate. We were born without a home and we trusted in our parent(s) and God to provide for us when we had nothing.

A person can divorce us or die on us leaving us without our partner on earth. We were born without a husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend and we will leave this earth without one too.

Your value as a child of God does not diminish when unemployed, carless, homeless or without a significant other.   Our True Net Worth was high when we entered this world before we started accumulating roles and possessions. Our True Net Worth will be very high when we leave this world and it should remain very high on a daily basis.  This feeling of very high True Net Worth should not fluctuate because we have a strong spiritual connection to God and to each other.

The development of our Spirit is the one asset that we have that is guaranteed to appreciate and can never depreciate without our permission.

Unity Consciousness is our spiritual connection to God and our awareness that we are united with every human on the planet via a spiritual connection.  When we understand that our source of strength and power comes from the Spirit that dwells within us and from the relationship between our Spirit and God, we feel valuable and connected on a daily basis.  We know that our source of strength that is with us today and that will be with us for eternity will always provide for us.  It is that faith in God and our faith in our brothers and sisters in the world that assures us that we are never alone and that there is always hope.

With faith in God, there is always hope. When we’re working on improving and developing our relationship with God and our God-like attributes of love, faith and compassion we’re much more likely to feel tranquil and understanding as the things around us that are not in our control – the economy, a company’s success, the behavior of other people – are disappointing us.

External things can disappoint us but our developed Spirit (internal peace, love and serenity) and relationship with God will never do that!

Here is the Webster’s II definition of courage:  “The quality of state of mind or spirit enabling one to face danger or hardship with confidence and resolution”.

The definition says that courage could be the quality of state of mind enabling one to face danger or hardship with confidence and resolution.  In that definition, I only include state of mind (I’m excluding spirit). What might that state of mind sound like in our minds?

I remain calm when danger is around me.

I know that I have the ability to overcome any hardship that comes my way.

I am a strong individual who only gets stronger when events in my life become tougher.

These would be pretty good states of mind would they not?  With a strong state of mind, I am alone in my thoughts and strength. I am disconnected from God and from other people.

Let’s change the definition to the quality of state of spirit enabling one to face danger or hardship with confidence and resolution.  What types of spiritual thoughts would be imprinted in the mind?

I remain calm whenever danger is upon me and feel assured God is with me at all times and will always open a door or window when another one closes.

I am filled with confidence and courage at all times because I know that my ability to overcome every obstacle presented to me is a reality and well within the power of God.

My Spiritual connection to God and to other people assures me that I am never alone which is why I happily welcome challenges into my life.

In these examples, I keep my strong state of mind. I also bring-on the best security guard available. God is with us at all times to assist us in dealing with every single thought, problem, adversity and disappointment that life brings us.

In the first set of thoughts above, I presented strong, positive thoughts that were present in my mind.  In the second set of thoughts, I supplemented the very positive thoughts with the addition of God’s Spirit.  In the second examples, it’s our strong faith in God and belief in our developed Spirit which makes the confidence and courage in us even more powerful.

When I choose to build my biceps and other muscles, I commit to a daily regimen of exercises that will keep my muscles toned and growing. This is the same routine to build our spiritual muscle.  Our faith in our ability to bench press our body weight comes from frequent practice that give us confidence knowing that we can lift the weight whenever we’re called upon to do so..  Our Spiritual muscle – the Soul – is built in the very same manner. Our meditation, prayer and assimilation of God’s messages into deeply carved pathways within our minds enables us to build our Spiritual muscle on a daily basis so that it’s always ready to lift us up and sustain us when life’s speed bumps seem to appear from nowhere.

As you commit to a daily routine to keep your body healthy, be certain to commit to a daily routine to nurture and develop your Spirit. It is your Spiritual Muscle that will sustain you and assist you in dealing with every speed bump along the highway of life.

You control how you feel about your spiritual maturity, your relationship with God and your relationship with (how you treat) other humans.  When you give yourself high grades in these areas, all of the disappointment and discouragement is truly external and seems small and insignificant in comparison.

It is your strong Spiritual Muscle that builds your True Net Worth.

“May you be happy.  May you be peaceful.  May you be free from suffering.”  How would you like to keep those thoughts present in your mind throughout your day each and every day?  It’s very possible if you choose to meditate on a daily basis like the Buddhists do.  The above mantra is one of many meditations found in Stephan Bodian’s best selling book “Meditation for Dummies”.

According to the book, Buddha taught that in order for us to be free from suffering we must liberate ourselves from ignorance and eliminate fear, anger, greed, jealousy, and other negative mind-states. That sounds like a good idea to me!  Buddha taught the importance of gaining direct insight into the nature of existence and into how the mind creates suffering.

Does that mean that we create our own suffering?  Does that mean that we choose our “negative mind-states”. If that’s the case that means that we can create our own happiness, peacefulness and positive mind-states too.

In a related topic, BBC News published an article focused on mind-states on August 10th which was based on an American study published in the journal Circulation that says “Women who are optimistic have a lower risk of heart disease and death”. It aligns perfectly with an earlier study by a Dutch team which found that “optimism reduces heart risk in men”.

“Optimistic women had a 9% lower risk of developing heart disease and a 14% lower risk of dying from any cause after more than eight years of follow-up. Optimistic women exercised more and were leaner than their pessimistic peers. Cynical women who harbored hostile thoughts about others or were generally mistrusting of others were 16% more likely to die over the same time-scale”.

A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation says in the article:  “We know that hostile emotions can release certain chemicals in the body which may increase the risk of heart disease, but we don’t fully understand how and why”.

Since the BBC News article focused on optimism, I thought that I’d look up the definition of pessimism: 1. A tendency to take the least hopeful view of a situation. 2. The doctrine or belief that this is the worst of all possible worlds and that all things ultimately tend toward evil.  Think Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh. “Things are lousy and they’re only going to get worse”.

Okay, let’s review:

• Buddha taught that to be free from suffering we must eliminate negative mind-states
• Studies show that optimism (positive mind-state) reduces heart disease in men and women
• Cynical women with hostile thoughts are 16% more likely to die than their optimistic counterparts
• Meditation helps reverse heart disease, reduces stress, calms the body and relaxes the mind

So, how can we eliminate our pessimism, ignorance and negative mind-states and create positive, optimistic mind-states?

Meditation is a practice that can allow us accomplish each of these objectives.  I’ve learned from psychology that the mind is incapable of holding two conflicting ideas at the same time.  I can’t love you and hate you at the same time.  I am never patient and impatient simultaneously.  Meditation is a tool to help us reprogram our minds and eliminate the negative, destructive emotions and create positive emotions for the future. It’s a very healthy cleansing process for our minds, hearts and souls!

I know what you’re thinking-this is going to take time.  Yes it is.  It took many years for us to create our negative, pessimistic attitudes and it will take a little time for us to change them.

Are you willing to invest about 15 minutes per day to give meditation a try?

If you thought that it would help you become more optimistic would you do it?

If you thought that it would help you lower your risk of heart disease would you invest the time?

Not only does Stephan Bodian’s “Meditation for Dummies” give complete instruction on the “how” and “why” to meditate but, it also comes with an audio CD that can get you started in the practice of meditation today.  Were you aware that you could meditate while exercising? I’ve done it while on a cardio machine with my heart rate above 130!

May you be happy.  May you be peaceful.  May you be free from suffering.