Seven Simple Exercises to Invite the Extraordinary Life
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Seven Simple Exercises to Invite the Extraordinary Life
by: Guy Finley
I can think of no greater encouragement than the self-evident Truth that
there dwells in each of us the opportunity to explore and know the Extraordinary
Life. The meaning of Extraordinary I wish to convey points to the immutable and
inexhaustible source that is the secret center of each of us: a timeless
resource open and available to anyone who would seek this Life that sits behind
life as we know it. Will we spend our lives in mere dreams of winning a
limitless life, or will we do the inner- work of awakening from this dream?
Choosing the Extraordinary Life begins with our conscious work to realize it,
which the following special practices help to ensure.
- Let Nagging Questions Go Unanswered: In stressful moments, listen to what
life is trying to tell you about you instead of searching anxiously for familiar
answers to make life feel "right" again. All fearful, doubt-filled moments are
secret reflections of what we have yet to understand about life and ourselves,
not life's rejection of us or our wish for happiness. Choose to go consciously
quiet whenever there is a riot in you. Refuse to take part in the search to
repair what you fear may be coming undone. Let go and watch what happens when
you consciously sacrifice the fear-filled self. This new action allows the
Extraordinary Life to enter into you where its presence alone proves that all is
well.
- Don't Make the Rescue Call: In times of anxiety and fear, we almost always
call upon someone or something to help us get through our stress. This
dependency on others for strength not only weakens our soul, but also steals
from it the possibility of being educated by the Extraordinary Life, which means
we miss two major lessons. First, the crucial lesson that all our fears are
based upon false evidence that appears real. With this revelation comes our
second realization that the same frightened self that seeks rescue secretly
confirms its imagined condition as being real each time it cries out for help.
Refusing to rescue ourselves from inner states that scare us invites the
Extraordinary Life that shows us that no such scared self exists that needs
saving.
- Take the Hard Way: Rut and routine are two sides of the same sad street.
Repetitive patterns are the well-worn pavement that our spiritually asleep self
loves to tread while it talks us to death with its empty promises of
extraordinary times "just ahead." We can learn to do much better let ourselves
be betrayed in this way, but it takes inner work! Instead of caving into the
demands of those slipshod parts of ourselves always looking for the easy way
out, we must choose in favor of what our false nature wants us to see as being
the "hard" way. But it's not. In fact, once we learn that the only real way out
of what we would rather avoid is to go through it, we discover another
self-liberating truth: the only thing that's hard on us is when we allow our
unenlightened nature to convince us that getting around something is the same as
rising above it.
- Do the Thing You Fear Doing: There is a correct time and place for
thinking through practical plans in the ordinary scheme of life's events. But
nothing that is founded in thought can serve to reveal the unthinkable plans
that the Extraordinary holds in store for anyone willing to leap into the moment
without a parachute. Never mind those old fears of falling. Just jump! Being
willing to risk failing is a prerequisite for fearless living. If you will take
the leap into what you are afraid of doing, the Extraordinary Life will prove to
you that Its unshakable ground is everywhere beneath you at all times. Nothing
compares with this discovery because, once realized, there's nowhere to go but
up! A note of caution: taking a spiritual leap is far different from taking a
reckless physical risk. Never risk the well being of your physical body for the
sake of a passing thrill: for what is possible to attain with a body, cannot be
without one. The temporary rush of adrenalin has nothing in common with one's
awakening to the reality of a timeless, fearless life.
- Take Time Out from Yourself Every Day: Unseen by the self that walks upon
it, thought is a treadmill powered by the movement of our yesterdays as they
produce our tomorrows. This is the real meaning of "doing time." The domain of
the Extraordinary Life is Timeless. To share Its life, we must enter into Its
world. Here is a good way to begin this Work: Every day, as often as can be
remembered, chose to break out of that gilded, but self-confining cage called
"thinking about yourself." We live under the power of these unconscious
ponderings, for when they turn dark and stormy, it is we who are left out in the
cold. Even if we can only collect ourselves to meditate, pray or contemplate a
Higher Idea for a few minutes at a time, we must do it anyway. These small
windows - opened by our work to remember the Extraordinary Life : grant us
passage into its timeless domain.
- Open Yourself to Life: Dare to see and experience yourself as you are
without giving names to all the varied emotional sensations that present
themselves before your watchful inner eyes. Allow the meaning of whatever states
you see coming up in you to reveal their actual nature to you. Resist the
temptation to interrupt their upwelling by explaining to yourself what you are
experiencing. Have no intention toward these thoughts and feelings other than to
be open to them and, in doing so, to permit them their uninterrupted passage
through you. Why open up to life in this way? For one thing, this gives negative
states the back door they need to depart. For another, the Extraordinary Life is
very possessive. It will not enter any zone marked "occupied."
- Make No Campsites: The Extraordinary Life visits individuals, not groups
or organizations. It strengthens the soul willing to be alone for its sake. Keep
your distance from people who insist that you believe as they do, who hope to
convince you that the reality they have satisfied themselves with should satisfy
you as well. These deceivers want only to keep you in their unreal camp. Never
mind who is walking with you and who isn't. Be wary of any campsite - inner or
outer - with its bright "welcome weary traveler" sign. Most of these campers
desire your company so that they can forget they are going nowhere. Walk on!
Your persistence is an open invitation to the Extraordinary Life to show you the
Way back home.
(Excerpted from Let Go and Live in the Now, Red Wheel/Weiser, 2004: 1,150
words)
Guy Finley is the acclaimed author of more than 30 books and audio programs on
the subject of self-realization, several of which have become international best
sellers. His popular works, published in 16 languages, are widely endorsed by
doctors, professionals, and religious leaders of all denominations. Among many
others, his popular titles include: The Secret of Letting Go, Design Your
Destiny, The Lost Secrets of Prayer, Apprentice of the Heart, Let Go and Live in
the Now, and The Essential Laws of Fearless Living. Finley is the founder and
director of Life of Learning Foundation, a nonprofit center for self-study
located in Southern Oregon where he gives talks four times each week. Visit
http://www.guyfinley.org for a wealth of
free helpful information, free audio and video downloads, and to request your
free Self-Improvement Starter Kit.
Contributor:
Guy Finley
Published here on:
Classification: Development
Website: http://www.guyfinley.org
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