Effendi - Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth

Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...23

Table of Contents

May all beings open their hearts more to the Creator, True Source

INTRODUCTION

We are meant to be happy.

If you look at the motivations behind our thoughts and actionsconscious and unconscioustheyre all to get us closer to the feeling, or at least the idea, of happiness.

Yet in spite of our worldly successes and social relationships, we sometimes feel lonely, empty, as if something is missing. Even when we experience happiness, it tends to be more of a brief touch than a lasting embrace. We seem to slip back to a lower plane, a place of wanting, again and again.

Psychologists, economists, poetsand, most importantly, youhave long asked why. But, for all of the scholarship and human insight across the centuries, nobody has found a complete and enduring answer. Perhaps because its been too close to see

The answer, the truth, is our heart. Not the physical heart that beats in our chest, but our spiritual heart: the key connection to True Source, the Source of peace, calmness, and joy. In opening and using our heart, were blessed with a lasting peace and happiness that we can feelactually and really feelas we go about our daily lives. (Because opening our heart is universal and applies to all religions and faiths, please feel free to replace the term True Source with whatever name you use to refer to the Source of Light and Love). It is my joy to share with you in this book not only information about the heart but also simple and effective exercises to help open and strengthen your heart even more.

As you read through the exercises, you will notice that the steps are actually quite simple and natural. Being guided by your feeling as you begin to practice, you will experience the beautiful ease of allowing your heart to lead you.

I began presenting Open Heart and Inner Heart workshops years ago, and have been asked why I am writing this book about the heart for the public now. Its because everything is happening at such a fast rate during this spiritual awakening age. In fact, it was not until just several months ago that without any preparation (i.e., Heart workshops), people were able to open and strengthen their hearts easily. Given this great shift and Blessing, this book will be valuable for everyoneincluding those who have no background whatsoever in heart training or meditation.

May you find everything I share in this book useful. By opening and using your heart more, you will become happier, more peaceful, and healthier. May you also enjoy praying more, be more grateful, and become closer to True Source.

Irmansyah Effendi
Perth, Australia, May 2010

OUR HEART

There are countless sayings recognizing the importance of our heart:

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

~ CARL JUNG

Few are those who see with their own eyes and feel with their own hearts.

~ ALBERT EINSTEIN

Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.

~ ARISTOTLE

The only lasting beauty is the beauty of the heart.

~ RUMI

The worst prison would be a closed heart.

~ POPE JOHN PAUL II

Wherever you go, go with all your heart.

~ CONFUCIUS

One learns through the heart, not the eyes or the intellect.

~ MARK TWAIN

Without a rich heart, wealth is an ugly beggar.

~ RALPH WALDO EMERSON

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.

~ ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPERY

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.

~ BUDDHA

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.

~ HELEN KELLER

In prayer, it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.

~ MAHATMA GANDHI

There is a light that shines beyond all things on Earth, beyond us all, beyond the very highest heavens. This is the light that shines in our heart.

~ CHANDOGYA UPANISHAD 3.13.7

In reading these quotes, we recognize a core essence of truth. Theres a knowing and familiarity, despite perhaps never having studied or followed these figures or their stories. Thats your heart speaking.

The heart, in its depth, is the center of peace and calmness. When we open and use our heart, we experience genuine lightness and tranquility throughout our whole self.

Sakyamuni Buddha taught: Calmness is within you; do not look for it outside of you. Yet you dont have to be a Buddha to see how those who chase down worldly success in an effort to be happy and peaceful many times end up anything but. A number of wealthy people find it difficult, often impossible, to smile freely or feel any real calmness or peace in their daily life. If we neglect our heart, we may attain success and material goods, but serenity and happiness will always still be in front of us, just out of reach.

When we open and use our heart properly, by contrast, we find that contentment and pleasure come hand-in-hand with the wealth: helping us to enjoy everything better, and with real perspective. We also share our happiness with those around us more freely, and create an environment that encourages and supports this peace and calmness.

By opening and using our heart in our daily lives, moreover, we can feel and enjoy this peace and calmnessso clearlythat our whole heart and our whole self are happy each moment. Your heart, in fact, already knows how. Its only a matter of opening it up and using it.

WHY OUR HEART?

Figure 1. Our heart within the chest cavity

Why is our heart the center of happy and beautiful feelings? Why is our heart, not our brain or other parts of us, the key?

Our heart is the key because our spirit, or our true self, is within our heart. The Creator, True Source, is a Spirit, and therefore our true self is also a spirita spark of True Source. Our heart is the special facility provided so that there is always a beautiful connection between True Source and the beloved children of True Source.

Our brain is also a wonderful facility given by True Source so that we can learn through experience, as our lessons here on Earth to help us to remember about and choose True Source. But of course it is the special tool, the heart, which has been provided for us to truly improve our connection.

In the same way we must use our eyes to see and our hands to touchnot just intending to or thinking about seeing or touchingour heart must actually be used to strengthen our connection to True Source. Yet because our relationship is obviously not a physical matter but a spiritual one, its clear that we wouldnt use a physical organ to grow closer to True Source. Again, this is what the heart, the key to our connection, is for. And while the spiritual heart is non-physical, it isnt difficult at all to use; you will see this after opening your heart for some time.

Next page

1234567...23

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth»

Look at similar books to Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Ed Young

Total Heart Health for Men Workbook

Dr. Malissa Wood

Smart at Heart: A Holistic 10-Step Approach to Preventing and Healing Heart Disease for Women

Terry A. WIlliams

Before Its Too Late

Susan Aposhyan

Heart Open, Body Awake: Four Steps to Embodied Spirituality

A. Craig Troxel

With All Your Heart: Orienting Your Mind, Desires, and Will Toward Christ

William Smith

Exercises for Heart Health: The Complete Guide for Heart Attack, Heart Surgery, and Cardiovascular Disease Patients

Stephen Snyder

Buddhas Heart: Meditation Practice for Developing Well-being, Love, and Empathy

Tello

Healthy habits for your heart: 100 simple, effective ways to lower your blood pressure and maintain your hearts health

Miller Joanne

Parenting Is Heart Work

Amidon Thomas W.

The sublime engine: a biography of the human heart

Steven Masley

The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up: A Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease

Dalai Lama

An Open Heart: Practicing Compassion in Everyday Life

Discussion, reviews of the book Smile to your heart meditations: simple practices for peace, health and spiritual growth and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.