11 Keys to a Happy, Peaceful, Contented Life!

It is said, "we always teach what we need to learn".  Well, as I am moving past what feels like a mini bout with depression, I'm again reunited with the core beliefs that have sustained me through the years, kept me positive and trumped all sadness and anxiety whenever I held onto them firmly.  As I pondered these ideas, I felt the warmth of happiness wash through me again. I know some of these are radical, especially when they are applied to criminals and the likes. Still, I stand by them at this time because I believe adopting these principles will lead to a more harmonious world. I also believe that much of our need for recovery work, painful consequences and emotional and mental imbalances would be greatly reduced if we really embraced these ideas. Of course, crime rate etc. would also go down.  As always, I'm open and welcoming to any differing points so I may continue to grow and evolve.  I also know that I'm making this all up.

1. We were born as an original blessing.
2. We are always Enough......Period!
3. There is no good/bad/right/wrong, only consequences.
4. We always do the best we can at any given moment.
5. There is no way to make the wrong decision.
6. Noone is better or more worthy of love than anyone else.
7. The more you appreciate and/or accept all of life, the better you feel.
8. We are at the only place we can be right now.
9. Be attached to nothing. This too shall pass. All is impermanent.
10. Serving/helping others is good for the soul (as long as you take care of yourself at the same time)
11. Enerything is perfectly imperfect.

My hope is that something here will trump any sadness or anxiety you may be feeling and we can all get on to the business of Peace......swami armandananda

Surrendering To The Goddess.....Again!

Today we got a call from America's Got Talent inviting us to be a part of the 2011 Finale Show as an AGT All Star. At first I was so excited since it felt like an opportunity to "get back on the horse" with an appreciative audience, no Xs, over 100 million viewers and a trip to Hollywood.  Then I presented it to my bride Angelina and she immediately said "No F'ing Way".  I was really disappointed since I am a born entertainer and this would be the most exciting, big time opportunity to share our talents ever.  She then went on to remind me that AGT portrayed us in a very unfavorable light in June. Then she reminded me that our audition in July was never aired even though we spent $1000. on the costumes and went through "hell" during Vegas Week. I still argued for going. Then she reminded me that they are only inviting us to go back because the audience and judges had such an unfavorable response to us.  Then I found my mind starting to have second thoughts.  Then she reminded me that I had facebooked that I no longer, in clear conscious, could support a show where the judges displayed such obvious disrespect for each other and had very little compassion for the talent. (amazing how quickly I forgot that when they dangled the carrot) I'm not judging the show any more than I would judge a cigarette company. Still, I would not endorse either. My body and mind were a mess.  So much confusion for me and still, Angelina was very clear.  Absolutely Not! 

One thing I've noticed over the last 10 plus years, whenever Angelina and I are in disagreement, she is usually more intuitive, wise and discerning.  She's the one that convinced me to become monogamous in 2007. (one of the best decisions I ever made)  So, not only do I surrender to her, I believe in my heart that this is the wisest thing for us to do since we truly want to put this whole AGT nightmare behind us. That being said, I wouldn't do anything different because I have grown more spiritually from this than almost any other single event of my life. I also discovered a whole new religion that has trumped all other spiritual teachings as far as how much peace of mind I now have. So I called AGT back and told them thanks, but no thanks.  I've been a bit depressed all day but I'm coming out of it now.  We still have no full time work but I don't mind.  At one point she was crying because she so didn't want to go to Hollywood, and I was crying because I so did. lol  As Howie said to us when they eliminated us in Vegas..."we're sending you home but you still have each other"....Amen Howie, I'd choose what I have with Angelina over any amount of fame, money, women, independence or control. 

When offered the drug of fame, sometimes you gotta  JUST SAY NO!!!

Defending the Caveman! The root of the Martian/Venusian dilemma.

Last December in Las Vegas, our dear frieind Jodi Floyd took us to see "Defending the Caveman", a one man show showing how little has changed since the neanderthal age.  We all found it informative, funny and poignant.  Funny, almost every romantic comedy, shows how different martians and venusions process in the brain but the spiritual community is still so reluctant to talk about this difference and the limbic system. Most women I know are much more willing to support men in evolving past their "limbic nature" than are willing to evolve past their own. I would say that this lack of understanding is one of the main reasons so many amazing, gorgeous, conscious, fun, powerful women are unable to connect in a conscious committed way with men. I think I just dropped another bomb!!!  Fortunately, I have a woman that totally accepts my insanity and limbic relationship with "the little brain". She is just very possessive of it. lol  A woman recently gave birth and asked the doctor if it were a boy or a girl. The doctor said "it's a boy but he's a hermaphrodite."  She asked what that meant and he explained, "he has both sets of organs".  She replied, "Oh MY God, he has a penis and a brain".   I rest my case.

Our God Is A Myth and So Are You!

First let's explore the definition of myth. Here's the definition that best supports my comment....(which of course is the one I'm gonna use. lol)

1. idealized conception: a set of often idealized or glamorized ideas and stories surrounding a particular phenomenon, concept, or famous person.

Since the concept of God is beyond the human mind's capacity to truly explain or understand, we are forced to create an idea about God.  Sure the experience of God seems very real. Still, there is no way to use words or thoughts to describe this experience since this experience transcends human thought and words.  Joseph Campbell says "those that think the myth is a fact and use historical evidence to prove this fact are called "theists".  This would describe many Christians, Muslims, practicing Jews, Meher Baba followers, Course in Miracles students and pretty much anyone that takes their religious myths as facts. Those that believe the myth is a lie are called "atheists".  Theists and athiests would make up about 99% of all humankind. The other 1% would fall somewhere in between and that's where we are.  We believe that the myth is real but not having anything to do with historical or physical evidence, ie facts. In other words, we experience God energetically and use "make believe" to create and/or adopt a religion and teachings that exemplify God in the human world and offer a sense of connectedness, security, peace and divinity.  This feels very important to us since the world seems to offer anything but these things.

The same is true for our "True Selves" (another aspect of God).  This too is beyond our mind's capacity to comprehend so we create "myths" to make sense of it.  Here are a few myths I have about myself.....I am male. I am 6' tall. I have a personality. I am an entertainer. I am a spiritual teacher, I'm a recovering "romantic intrigue addict", I am a Scriptist. I write blogs. etc, etc.  It's only when I take these myths as facts and set out to prove them that I lose the true meaning of who I really am.  By accepting that my concepts of God and Self are myths, I free myself of any guilt, shame, judgment and not-enoughness and I get to choose the myths that support well-being and peace. Also, I drop all needs to defend my position because I know my position is "made up" just like my religion "The Script". 
May the Farce Be With You!...swami beyondananda

The Dark Side of Gratitude

Oh no, I'm going into "sacred cow" territory again.  I am reminded of all the buttons that got pushed when I exposed the "dark side" of being "proud of" someone.  Anyway, this is what comes to me and my guidance is to share it in hopes to possibly shine a new, thought-provoking light on our dear friend....Gratitude.  I have lived by the saying "everything has a front and a back" which I first heard from John Demartini who many know from "The Secret".  It has been really helpful for me when my EGO wanted to make absolutes about anything.  Thinking something is going to be all enjoyable sets us up for disappointment. Can you say marriage???  Thinking something is going to be all miserable prevents us from getting the gift in the discomfort. Can you say divorce???  Here's an example...No-one really likes feeling ill and I have found that focusing on how miserable I feel makes the experience much more uncomfortable versus thinking and saying that I'm going through a healing crisis that is ultimately going to make my body, mind and Spirit stronger than ever.  The latter creates an energy of acceptance and peace. As Angelina and I step into the often scary place of the unknown with our career, our motivation comes from the inner knowing that our old career no longer serves us fully.  The thought of continuing to play at churches full time for love offerings, with no guarantee of how many will show up at our concerts, causes my stomach to tighten up.  This doesn't mean we are not extremely grateful for the last 10 years for her and 15 years for me. This has been the most amazing, prosperous, fully self expressed career of our lives.  Still, we have been getting guidance to move into other avenues of service and expression for several years now.  While meditating yesterday, I asked a question that went something like "what took us so long to make this decision?"  The answer was very clear...."Fear and Gratitude!"  Well I totally get the fear part.  Here we have a career that we know how to do. Doing something else will be scary on some level.  We will have to leave our "New Thought Bubble" where we know people will get us. We know at churches we are loved and appreciated and even though product sales plummeted in August of 2009 and have not fully returned to where they were during the "Bush Years".(just a joke, don't freak please), we were still able to make a comfortable living doing something we loved.  We also know we are being of service to 10's of thousands of receptive folks. How does it get any better than that?  How many folks would love to be able to say that?  We have nothing to complain about!  If this is what we have to do forever, that's good enough. We are soooo grateful for this amazing opportunity to do what we love together and make a living doing it.  How dare we be anything less than grateful and appreciative for all we have.  Aha! I see it now.  Although gratitude is one of the foundations of our lives and one of the main subjects of our ministry, the EGO can easily use it for it's own devices. Our gratitude for how blessed we are can also hinder us if used as an excuse to keep doing what we're doing even if it no longer feels right.  Anything that can dis-empower us needs to be brought to the light so that's what I'm doing with Gratitude.  Here's another example....Angelina stayed in her first marriage for about 7 years. She says that after about 3 1/2 years, she knew that her wasband was no longer "that into her" (I still don't get that one).  The romance continued to fade, respect diminished and they became more and more like roommates.   He wasn't even wealthy! lol   Most people, especially those without kids, would have been "outta there". What Angelina has that most don't, is an incredible feeling of gratitude for life. She lives in gratitude.  During the "non-wonder years" of her marriage, she focused upon what she was grateful for...her golden retrievers, her Unity church and minister Bob Marshall (paging Dr. Freud), her wasband's work ethic and ability to provide for them, the fact that he was not physically abusive and that many women around the world would trade places with her right now. How dare she not be appreciative.  Again, the EGO can use our grateful nature to keep us stuck where sometimes a bit of "anger" and "nonacceptance" can motivate us.  I've heard this called "The Divine Discontent" and is often credited as a step towards transcendence and mysticism.  Another version would be "there must be something more" which Belle so eloquently sang in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I can't believe that just came up because I've often thought that our relationship paralleled that movie. Here Angelina leaves her respectable world, the one her parents really were "proud of her" for having. LOL Where she was apparently financially secure (we ended up with credit card debt from that facade,ha), with a corporate husband, a Lexus, a Suburban and Insurance.  Oh My God!!  She leaves that and runs off with a guy with no insurance, a mini-van, long hair, no savings, no paycheck, multiple addictions and for God's sake, his shoes don't even match.  Somehow, by the Grace of God and a hell of a lot of oxytocin (the love drug), none of this mattered to her and eventually, she tames the Beast and they live "Happily Ever After"..........the beginning! 
  
God I'm grateful!!!

The Buck Stops Here or...It's All About Me!

I have noticed that any time I'm upset over something or someone, it ends up being about me. As I've been processing a painful ending to a 29 year co-dependent relationship with another couple,  I've noticed that my "spiritual path" has not been able to bring me to peace the way it usually does.  Last night I started meditating on this and was able to get some insights.  The dialogue between self and Self went like this .......
Why am I hurting?
You  are judging.
Who am I judging?
The couple.
What am I judging?
Their lack of honesty with you, anger towards you and lack of support of you.
I already have accepted those things in them.
Not fully because you haven't accepted those things in you.
What you talkin' bout Willis?
If you look deeply, you'll see that you posess all of that energy towards them too.
Ouch, I didn't see that but you're right. I've been pretending to have positive feelings for them for years when deep down, I f%@#ing can't stand them. I have supported them though, haven't I?
You've supported them in some ways but you have not fully accepted them for how they have showed up in your life.
Damn, that's true. How come Spirituality hasn't been able to override this for me?
Spirituality is available to give perspective, understanding and guidance to what you are conscious of. It cannot help you with what you don't know that you don't know.  You were pretending to be loving but deep down you were judging so until you owned that, you would always suffer and they would always end up doing/reflecting something to you that would trigger this suffering.
Wow, that is very helpful.  Now I feel even worse about the way I have been with them especially recently when I told them off in an email.
Good, you are conscious of what you are feeling and now you can use your Spiritual tools to change your thoughts.  Knowing you,  you'll do that very quickly. Now it's time to forgive yourself and them completely, (remember, you are them and they are you) knowing that you all did your best and the only thing that you could at the time.  Forgiving them will be the easy part but letting yourself off the hook for doing and thinking what you believed was beneath you will take some courage. This is your pride and it does not serve you.  You are a spiritual teacher because that's what you came here to do. Not because you are supposed to be more or less than anyone else. Remember, all are equal and no-one need have any more pressure upon them to do what they came here to do than anyone else.  When you say, "I'm more spiritual than this",  you are effectively saying "it's OK for them to be that way because they are inferior to me".  When you can have equal compassion for everyone and yourself, you'll be able to embrace your "I'm not proud of myself or anyone else" philosophy more fully.
Ouch!  OK, more self forgiveness. I get it. Thank you.
Anytime my friend.   BTW, I'm You, I'm God, I AM. LOL

So once again I'm reminded that the Buck Stops Here!  While Angelina and I were in Vegas in December, we saw a girly pink shirt with rhinestones that said "It's All About Me".  Although the makers may not have been consciously aware of how true that statement is, we both said "that pretty much sums up consciousness". 

I Now Pronounce Us....Not Guilty!

For those of you who've been to one of our services in the last year, you've probably heard this talk.  This subject was inspired by an Oprah show and my own feelings of  "shame and guilt" before attending the Hoffman Quadrinity Process which helped me release most of those feelings.  Oprah had a couple of ex-cons on her show, who had served over 10 years each of a life sentence for taking the lives of family members.  They were both freed because of an amazing technology....DNA Testing. As a result of their tests, it was proven that they were innocent.  That in itself is wonderful and not too surprising. What was really surprising was that both men had confessed to the crimes.  This left Oprah and the audience amazed. How could this be?  Why in the world would anyone do that?  Well, the men said that they were traumatized by the situation, their incarceration and the relentless interrogation.  At some point they just surrendered and confessed. This made it harder for them to ever be free but at least gave them a temporary peace from all the mental torture.

Upon hearing this I began to weep.  I recognized all the trauma that I have felt in my life.  I remembered the interrogations etc.  I recognized that I had been sold a set of lies and after hearing them long enough, my receptive parts started to believe it.  I heard "Lord I'm not worthy to receive you",  "you were born in original sin", "you are a bad boy", "you should be ashamed of yourself" and the list goes on.  If you were told anything less than "you are a beautiful, perfect, child of God that was born an original blessing", than you were lied to.  We are so worthy to receive all the love in the world.  We have nothing to be ashamed of and have no need to ever feel guilty. As Marianne Williamson said "it is our greatness that we most fear".  Why, because it is so contradictory to what we've been told.  We are so afraid of being arrogant that we play unhealthily small.  Arrogance is "I'm wonderful and Godly and you're not."  Enlightenment is "I'm wonderful, Godly and totally unique...just like everyone else"...swami beyondananda     If you are like me, you are in the process of rediscovering your innocence, your divinity and your ultimate worthiness.  We have been serving time for a crime we didn't commit.  This has gone on too long. As we approach 2012, humanity is reminded of Jeshua's amazing words..."love thy neighbor as thyself".  Somehow we often forget the 'as thyself' part.  For most of us, it's much easier to love God and our neighbor than it is to love ourselves.  This has got to stop.  We are of the most good to others and the planet when we are free. How can we be free if we are imprisoned in our mind from an old sentence that we never deserved?  I am offering to free us all, to pardon us from whatever we believed we did.  The key of course is complete "self forgiveness".........I Now Pronounce Us....Not Guilty!  

PS. if you send an email to info@armandandangelina.com, I'll send you a free mp3 of Innocent, the song I wrote after this realization.