Soul Cafe

"Nothing has any meaning in this world, unless I give it meaning"  is a summary of the first two lessons outlined in the Workbook of  A Course in Miracles.  Some years ago when I read the above lines for the first few times (many, actually!) they appeared mundane and almost boring to me because it was too inconvenient for me to accept. They appeared dry and so matter-of-fact that it took me many years to actually develop an interest enough to read A Course In Miracles  with the intent to transform my mind. So, ideas like nothing has any meaning in this world till I give it meaning appeared preposterous! How is that even possible??  Like everyone, I believed everything I was taught from infant to present about the validity and existence of a world that appeared totally real to me. Unfortunately, this is not so at all. When I started applying these words to all the challenges in my life, I was actually surprised at how my ideas and perceptions b...

From the very moment I decided to walk the Path of Spirit, I became aware that thoughts played a very important part in how we experienced life. Theoretically, it all sounded like a dream, so easy!! Ah! but in reality it is another ball game altogether.  Trying to monitor thoughts is like trying to catch the wind. Not so easy, but once the challenge was accepted, the importance of this grasped, and a commitment was made to live in Truth, monitoring my thoughts started becoming wildly exciting. Every time I took the higher ground, I felt peace and bliss. When I choose a convenient thought that has no truth, I suffer emotionally, mentally and physically. We have been programmed to shun negative thoughts and welcome positive ones. But thoughts have life, and the moment any thought is engaged, a new and untrue story is born.  Every single thought must be questioned. It does'nt matter who told you to believe all of the stuff about your life - be it religion, community, s...

Photo Credit: Mome Antara Recently I have been thinking alot about Prayer and what a powerful tool it is to strengthen my connection with Spirit and with Life. I am a spur-of-the-moment ... er .... Pray-er? .... It was, perhaps for the first time, I realized that there is no word that can be spelled to define one who prays. Verbally one can differentiate from the pronunciation, but that is all. Strange, no? So I have been reflecting quite a bit on this and I came to this (temporary) conclusion: the Prayer and the Pray-er is the one and the same.  As you pray deeply with all your heart, and all your mind, and all your Soul, you become ONE with Prayer, with Spirit, with Life and with the Cosmos. The link between all three is pure Unity in Oneness Consciousness.  I Am Prayer . Om. Amen. Prayer truly changes our vibration. Even a chant does wonders for this entire unit I call a Human Being. Personally for me, the perfect Soul Mix is Music, Mantra and Meditat...

The truth of most matters is that we are afraid to look at life in its simplicity, to look at it the way it presents Itself, because if we do, life would be too straight forward for our liking. We need drama - big time - we need to embellish every aspect of life with excitement. Why? Perhaps because we are seeped in fear, too scared to become insignificant, too scared to be left behind, too scared that our crummy little world will come crashing down. So we must make a big noise, create a din that will deafen and deaden us to the pain of the enormous suffering that is rumbling in the depths of our spiritual wombs. In the process we get further and further away from our very own Beautiful Self. We become dry and lifeless. Before you know it we have slipped away from this world, some of us missed, some of us not. Chill! There is deep silence in the depths of Earth. We can choose any Elemental Angels and let it hold our attention for a while until we feel the calmness in our S...

There is so much going on in the world it is difficult to tell what is true and what is not, especially when you feel the vibrations of it all strongly in your body, mind and spirit.  The world, they say, is projected according to an individual's perception. Honestly speaking, I sometimes marvel that the mind can show up in zillions of ways through each individual mind doing a dance of its own. Where do I fit in, in all of this endless and frenzied activity? In the center of my heart. Yes, that is where. Be Still and Know. I believe this is the perfect time to carry out my own personal "awakening" experiments. Upto this point, I was loyally following the words of my favourite Non-Duality teachers, believing that only they know the "right" questions to ask. Is that true? Be Still and Know. In comparison to all the other kinds of spiritual and religious traditions, Non-Duality is my preferred path more or less, because it asks nothing of me but my inqui...

  “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.” ~ Mathew 10:30, KJV Life in the last six months has been a process of elimination and a series of deaths, which is not just a very difficult process, but a necessary one. It is where one becomes really and absolutely serious about living the true life with every intention to wake up on a daily basis from the sleep induced belief systems and habits that have become ingrained in the psyche.  It means "loss" of everything that one has considered to be very important to one's life in the present time.  It is not just about loosing people, but more about coming face to face with one's own karmic nature. It is a big step which everyone has to take eventually, but prayer for courage to do this helps miles along the way.  Though I have been on this path for a long time now, I was still unable to let go some serious stuff I needed to let go. I continued t...

God! Help Me!! That was my prayer!! God! Help Me! I prayed a lot. A LOT!! I prayed to get out of a rut in my spiritual life, a stagnancy which felt like it was beginning to rot. Something was not happening in a corner of my life which was impacting the rest of my life. I did'nt quite know what that was. I needed help. I just did'nt know how to get it, so I prayed. I cried, I screamed at God, I put away all of my "spiritual" stuff and decided I was done. I sulked and got terribly annoyed. Is'nt it strange how we treat God when we are in a deep crisis? We treat Him exactly as we treat ourselves.  My spiritual life was becoming as dry as a desert and I was croaking in thirst. Out of the blue, very recently, a chance meeting with a facebook friend in my city, Delhi, suddenly changed all of that.  So, this is my new blog signifying new beginnings. To be continued...... With Love, Lavina Olive xo