Heyoka

Involuntarily shaking and shuttering

As an eternal cold had taken over his soul

Yet he has warmth

Like a lost child, whose innocence is shining through

What happened to this man

I cannot help but wonder

His presence strikes me deeply

In my heart I recognise his delicate existence

He reminds me of a roaming troubadour

The beautiful red rose 

And the feather on his worn brown woolen hat 

Tell of times lost

A sense of romance

His white old linen shirt worn upside down

Like the sacred clown of the Lakota tribe

And a patched up pocket of twine

Holding his most precious stones I imagine

Or perhaps a poem

We share a gentle smile

As seekers of an answer unknown

His eyes twinkle like stars

Knowing that everything one day must die

Poetry For The Spirit

Just a friendly note to all you who enjoy my writings, I have published a little poetry book by the name of The Dwelling Of A Seeking Soul. In its pages you will find my spirit laid out raw. From ashes to the soaring sky, I share both my pains of existence and moments of pure bliss. I hope you will enjoy reading it!

Love always,
Henna

To Buy My Book

Cleaning Our Thoughts

I have been thinking a lot about how we create the reality we live in. In my view, one of the biggest ingredients is our thoughts. This metaphor came to me a while ago; our mind is like a cook book and the thoughts we put in are the recipes, or the ingredients which create our food - the way we perceive the world. Naturally, bad recipes, or bad ingredients just cannot create good food. 

But for some reason, we are under the illusion that our mind is negative by default. We are used to having negative thoughts all the time. It's like having a silent Tourette's syndrome, judgemental, envious or hateful thoughts pop up in our minds involuntarily. Most of the time, towards ourselves. It's like living with a saboteur, who is constantly trying to ruin everything for us. 

However, it does not have to be this way. I have discovered, that this saboteur is not a natural state of being at all, it is a symptom of an unhealthy mind. But just as we can clean our diets or our living space, so can we clean our minds. 

The first step into cleaning our thoughts is filtering what goes inside our minds. We can start by looking at what are the things that affect our subconscious. The films we watch, the news we read, the conversations we have all contribute to our wellbeing. They can very easily fill our minds with junk, and alter the way we see things. Oftentimes these negative thoughts that govern our lives are not even our own. They have been planted in us like a weed in a garden. And when the garden gets taken over by these weeds, very soon, they suck all the juice from the soil, and suddenly nothing else can grow.

This manifests as all sorts of different phenomena in our lives. Lack of inspiration, lack of motivation, lack of creativity, lack of purpose, lack of energy. This unhealthy state of mind completely drains us, paralyses us. But as we start sieving out these bad seeds, we begin to make space for the beautiful flowering plants and fruit bearing trees that make our garden - our mind - truly flourish.

Another important point about nourishing ourselves is not just what kind of food we eat, but how we eat. If we eat food when we are upset, the energy of that emotion or thought turns the food toxic. If our physical body is fed by toxic energy, the beautiful seeds within us cannot grow.

The next step is to start noticing when these unhealthy thought forms appear. You can use phrases like "I can see you". And as you become aware of the nature of that thought, you can ask yourself "Does this thought serve me?" or "Can I allow myself to let this go?" And once you have decided to clean this thought, you can visualise a magnificent waterfall or a roaring fire, and wash away or burn off this negative thought. Some people even like to talk to their saboteur, and create a loving dialogue with it, for example by saying "I appreciate your feedback, but I disagree."

Once you have started cleaning your thoughts, it is important to maintain a healthy mind. Start looking at what are the things that make your garden flourish. Instead of pornography, perhaps we can start looking into what true intimacy really means. Instead of consuming hours and hours of violent tv series, maybe we can make time to learn something - like learning to draw, learning a new language, learning to play a musical instrument, learning to build an airplane, learning to cook dishes from an exotic cuisine, anything that twists our socks! Another way to maintain a healthy mindset is to acquire a frequent practise of some kind. Whether it is meditation, writing a journal, skinny dipping at 6am in the morning, running in the woods, solving puzzles or dancing, any kind of frequent conscious activity like that will help you to come into your center and organise your mind. Physical activity will help you to increase the life force in your body, and that will help battle out toxic thoughts and emotions as well.

Little by little, we begin to realise that the world around us is not such a bad place after all. And the conversations we have start turning from a nag fest into an inspiring meeting of brilliant minds. Instead of feeling exhausted and down, we go home feeling fantastic! Soon enough, you might notice that some of the things, people and places that used to attract you now repulse you. That is the greatest indicator of a transforming mind, and a beginning of a whole new conscious way of living.

What if...?

I have not published anything here for a while, mostly due to my extensive inner work that has been going on. I am still and always will be in a process of transformation. Our lives are an infinite dance of arising and ceasing, so my thoughts will never be "finished" either. You will never find the end product of my consciousness here. But I have decided to get back into writing, as I am experiencing an ever increasing need to share my contemplations with the world. Take these not as definite answers but possibilities - fascinating findings of a tireless explorer.

Now, I invite you to let go of your views of the world for a while and just really taste these questions. Allow yourself to look with your inner eyes. What if I told you, that everything you aspire in life is already here? That, indeed, your search for the next best thing is all an escape from looking within and realising who you are? That at the core of your being, underneath your ego and personality, in your true essence, you are perfect? But because you have severed the connection to your pristine origin, you are suffering.

Could it be, that the fact that nothing ever really does it for you, and no sense of happiness ever really lasts, is because you are seeking things that cannot quench your thirst? That underneath it all, it is your soul who is calling. Calling you to sit in the driver's seat, and to peel away the layers that are harming you and distancing you from your higher self.

What if all the commercial and political forces are aware of this? What if they are using your unending yearning for inner fulfilment to sell you things, thoughts and beliefs? Telling you "this will make you happy", or "this is the truth of the world" when in fact they are only taking you further and further away from it. 

What if all the material objects and technical inventions of the world are just a mockery of what is already existing in Nature? What if all these lifeless items we surround ourselves with do not make our lives easier, but dumb us down and enslave us? And do not our societies depend on the fact that we must work, in order to buy? Would we, in fact, be much happier living on a small plot of land, with a simple life and a few possessions, growing our own food, caring for our animal companions, for the young and elder, and sharing the duties with our neighbours? 

Are we all followers of the Lie?

What if I told you, that we are capable of creating a new world without money, elections or revolutions? That everything around us is alive and interconnected, and separation is only an illusion? That our thoughts and feelings are the very building blocks of our reality? That when we have negative thoughts, we manifest negative things in life? And that when we swallow negative emotions, we make ourselves sick?

What if I told you, that Love is the strongest force in the Universe? And that every time you manifest love, the whole world lights up? That your positive thoughts and feelings are the medicine for all of humanity? That the path to a life filled with love, meaning, reverence and joy is inside all of us? That there is no limit to what we can co-create with purity of thought, truth and love?

Ask yourself, how can I live Truthfully? What can I do today to clean my negativity? What would it take for me to be free? How can I help others to see the truth? And how can I use my freedom and truth to better the world?

To My Daughter

When a subtle whisper penetrates all walls of your being

When a distant melody caresses you like nothing before

leaving you in a daze – a softly floating, glowing state

When one beat unhesitantly grabs your insides 

and shoots you through darkness 

like the first stem of spring pushing through the Earth

When in a single moment all that is false is magnified in you

and you are forced to let go of all that is hard, heavy and untrue

When a single image conveys the unwritten wisdom

of ancient civilisations lost

moving an ocean of lives through your eyes

When a single word gives birth to a nebula of light within

crystallising the brilliance of your whole existence –

That, my love, is art.

The One Who Carries Me

I begin to feel the air surrounding me,

slowly pressing its weight on me.

Something which so unnoticeable was before,

now in its tireless embrace encompasses me.

Earthbound am I,

pulled towards the One who carries me.

Suddenly, nothing is expected of me,

In the grace of my Mother I can be silently.

In stillness of mind there is nothing I need.

The answer to everything is simplicity.

"It's not so Black and White."

On the journey of personal evolution we constantly meet people who challenge us. Some of them are there to open our eyes to truth and guide us further. Others are there to poke us and make us feel uncomfortable about our new life choices. Choices such as not consuming alcohol, or avoiding sugary treats. They say that you must be flexible with your values to make others feel accepted. Of course it is wonderful to have consideration for others, but they fail to understand that in order for the person to "be flexible" he is asked to cause himself guilt and a sense of failure from having gone against his own values. What for? Is it not completely backwards to go against the conscious choice of one, in order to feed the ignorance and insecurity of others? It is not always easy to see the highest wisdom in everything, but of course the poking and bullying is happening for a reason too.

As a simple example lets think about the reason why someone would not want to eat honey. Instead of drawing negative conclusions of the person or ridiculing them, we could ask them and find out what is the issue with honey. Perhaps this way we could learn that in order for the bees to produce only one pound of honey, they must visit 2 million flowers and fly a distance of over 55,000 miles, and because of this the person does not feel they have the right to take the nectar the bees have collected for themselves with such incredibly hard work. Perhaps the person is also concerned about the disappearance of bees which is increasing at an alarming rate. Perhaps to the person the flavour or the fact that honey is the most enzyme rich substance to eat for humans is absolutely secondary to the right of the honey bee as a species to be left alone. 

Some people think that aspiring to live your life according to your values is somehow restricting yourself. They tell you that “you’re taking life too seriously”, or “it’s not so black and white”. But they completely lack the comprehension of the bigger picture. There is no greater sense of liberation than knowing that the choices you make in your everyday life are aligned with your values. It makes one free. It brings one happiness, empowerment and integrity on the deepest level.

It can be disappointing to realise that someone you love does not seem to share the same values as you. But it does not necessarily mean they do not share those values deep down inside. Indeed, they just might have not found the back bone or that moral fibre in themselves yet. Perhaps they very much want to change, but they do not know how, or where to find the strength to take the first step. Or maybe their priorities just are different, and they are working on other equally important aspects of their lives instead.

What we have to remember is that change comes with responsibility. Living life consciously aware is like becoming a mirror to the people around you. And the image they see is not always nice. That conflict of inner and outer image, or ‘cognitive dissonance’, is the reason why some people start poking you, demeaning your efforts and ridiculing you. Only because within they know they are sticking to harmful ways. They are in denial, full of excuses and extremely uncomfortable with the idea of having to change their own way of living. We must not lower ourselves to judgement or anger, but learn to find the love and wisdom to see beyond the prejudice.

We tend to forget that the first step to healing is always resistance. Every single person who has transformed themselves has first had to battle their own demons. Each and every learned person has first been ignorant. It takes one to deeply look at their lives and then recognise what aspects of it are not serving them any longer to make a change. We can ask ourselves, “What is stopping me from becoming the person I know I truly am?” And instead of feeling envious or inferior to the people who are actually changing their lives for the better, why not use it as a positive example?

Like the old Chinese proverb goes: “The person who says it cannot be done, should not interrupt the person who is doing it.”