No Resolutions

NO RESOLUTIONS

My eye is drawn to that blood-red dot. It appears on the cover and binding of Jan Frazier's, "The Freedom of Being at ease with what is". Noting this image each time I pick up the book, I suddenly experience one of Oprah's, "a-ha" moments, as synapses are activated.

This morning, the first of 2013, instead of reading from a list of resolutions (I've never made a list!), I begin reading a paragraph from Ms. Frazier's book and note to memory, these five words: "We are all two selves." The paragraph continues: "There is the self that's able to suffer. Then there's depersonalized awareness. This self has no gender or beliefs, nor is it affected by experience." 

She continues, in another paragraph: " This self is spaciousness. When it notices itself, there's an experience of barely discernible sweetness, like watery maple sap right out of the tree. Not the concentrated sweetness of the boiled-down version, like mystical bliss of physical orgasm. It's subtle. This self is so all-pervasive, so yielding and tender, that it's able to contain the misery and variety of the whole world, all the while sensing it's own presence everywhere."

We have all felt this other self, "...in a moment of particular stillness. A moment when you've become lost in the feathers of a bird you're looking at. A moment on the edge of sleep, or one in which you're riveted on a dancer on a stage. Or when you have a paintbrush or a fishing pole in your hand, and all the world grows still, and there are no problems anywhere that you can find." 

That *red dot? A symbol for consciousness.
Only a very thin film of gauze separates us from this other SELF.
Change perception. Dissolve the film. Awaken!

May your year be filled with the love, the peace and the joy of consciousness!
Jan Frazier Teachings
The Freedom of Being at Ease with What Is

*From Wikipedia:
Bindi: Traditionally, the area between the eyebrows (where the bindi is placed) is said to be the sixth chakra, ajna, the seat of "concealed wisdom". According to followers of Hinduism, this chakra is the exit point for kundalini energy. The bindi is said to retain energy and strengthen concentration. The bindi also represents
the third eye.[2] 
Swami Muktananda writes: 'Auspicious Kumkum or sandal wood paste is applied (between the eyebrows) out of respect for inner Guru. It is the Guru's seat. There is a chakra (center of spiritual energy within human body) here called Ajna (Aadnyaa) chakra meaning 'Command center'. Here you receive the Guru's command to go higher in Sadhana (spiritual practice) to the 'Sahasraar' (seventh and final chakra) which leads to Self realization. The flame seen at the eyebrow is called 'Guru Jyoti'. (From Finite to Infinite, by Swami Muktananda, SYDA Foundation, S. Fallsburg, NY, 1989, pp. 88–89)