aadhya-schoolofthoughts

[aadhya-schoolofthoughts]

Media responsibility

In the modern tech age, people are bombarded with so much information, it’s the job of all media outlets to help people to see the truth with clarity, by narrowing their focus to what’s important. Media must serve as a credible unbiased medium to raise awareness, by presenting the truth of the situation.

Yet in reality, newspapers use eye catching headlines and sensationalized exaggeration for increased sales which is widely known as yellow journalism.  Narratives are controlled to make money by using certain words and adjectives on the front page over and over again to psychologically manipulate people into believing a story that sells the most number of papers. In some sense it passively provokes people to be agitated, engage in pointless arguments, cause chaos/conflict by delivering a story sometimes far from the truth. News or any form of media should help people to be well informed and aware about what’s going on and not passively instigate aggression or violence or riots to make profit.

Media freedom must be ensured but one must not forget about media responsibility. Media outlets feed millions of brains on a daily basis. They must be responsible for the kind of message they deliver and the method of delivering it, while holding them accountable for any act of invasion of privacy and indecency or exertion of violence. If they are to hold so much power, they must be held accountable and responsible for their mistakes. If individuals are targeted and arrested for spreading misinformation on social media, why aren’t media outlets and newspapers held accountable based on that same standard? They should be monitored more because their audience is larger.

Freedom of speech must be coupled with responsibility and accountability, in order to ensure truth comes out in a professional, decent, informed manner to raise awareness and to build a well-informed nation and not to poison minds of people.

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Intellectuals

Intellectuals are those who use their intellect to produce ideas as opposed to a person using their expertise or speciality to produce a product. Intellectual’s innovations are their vision, thoughts and ideas. That’s the end product. They are not responsible for the implementation or application of it.

Intellectuals are divided into two groups; (1) those who are for change and (2) those who are for status quo. The ones who are for change are working towards being of service to the society at large, to bring in a new order (service to society), while the other group is more interested in getting an ego boost from their qualification and often present ideas to feel a sense of superiority (service to themselves). These two groups are constantly at war due to the intention behind presenting an idea.

Visions of intellectuals are distinct from other visions, as they seek to influence not control the kind of decisions that are made in society. They share knowledge of the 1% through their ideas to the 99%, as new ways of order and governance for the purpose of efficiency, growth and evolution. The power to implement such visions and ideas is with the politicians or government in a societal context. However, one may argue that power to control must be concentrated in knowledge. Though this may seem to be appealing to many intellectuals, due to the lack of or limited consequential knowledge required to meet individual needs, such power concentration is not ideal.

The best way for ideas of intellectuals to reach the society at large is through media. Media possess the soft power that is needed to promote and advocate an idea, philosophy or vision. This is not limited to national television or newspapers, in the modern day and age, social media can be used as a powerful tool to advocate certain thoughts and ideas. 

However, one must be mindful about the delivery of an idea. It is imperative to articulate an idea or vision properly to reach a target audience, in order for it to be positively received and to attract proponents of such an idea, to promote it to the society at large as well as prominent figures of the society who have the authority to advocate and implement the same. These authorities who possess consequential knowledge are schools, universities, religious communities, legal community or any other platform/person/institution that holds a significant power to influence people and has earned the respect of society at large. Intellectuals can collaborate with them, to make better decisions to serve people in the best way possible.

[aadhya-schoolofthoughts]

True creativity

In order to tap into your true creativity, you need to do the necessary inner work to heal your unresolved trauma and release self-limiting and self-sabotaging beliefs. If healing is not done to balance your inner masculine and feminine energies (at least to some extent), it will be difficult to channel your inner light from a heart space to decide upon a creative pursuit you are passionate about. Identification of true creativity (personality) requires trauma healing.

The more you heal and clear your vessel, follow a proper diet and live a healthier lifestyle, the more you will feel connected to the source and our heart space, which allows you to tap into our true potential; as healing helps us to let go of ego and personal biases, and be more open to new flow of creative ideas and passions. Creative dry spells can be avoided when you tap into the infinite abundance of the universe.

Being in a receptive and flow state is necessary to channel identify creative goals, however in order to stick to the said goal and work towards it requires creative maturity, for which you need to master and balance your divine masculine energy. Balanced masculine energy will help to take inspired action towards a goal consistently in a grounded and disciplined manner.

Sometimes creative interests may be to escape reality or used as a coping mechanism, but if you want to generate an income from a creative passion/goal, free flow of creative insights must be coupled with disciplined mindset to take action in light of the creative goal consistently.

You must train your mind to be disciplined and not be a slave to your senses, avoid distractions and be focused on what you want to achieve and let go of whatever that does not resonate with that goal. In order to become the master of a field you need the knowledge of what you want to do, confidence to pursue it and the discipline to ground the same in a consistent manner.

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Breaking toxic cycles

Having the realization that you are worth more than the way you have been treating yourself and you deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion, will help anyone to break free from any illusions and face the reality of a relationship, career, friendship or life in general. You taking back your power and saying ‘I deserve better’ is the ultimate self-love moment, where you finally stand up for yourself, take control of your life and decide to change, as your own internal toxicity is not serving you anymore. Finding the inner strength and courage to walk away from anything that does not serve your highest good anymore, is an act of self-respect.

But before engaging in adding up new healthy ways of thinking, habits and lifestyles, it’s important to go through a cutting away process. Removing the extra weights, which may be toxic people, environments, habits or negative feelings or painful memories or grudges or past trauma and wounds. A deep cleanse must take place, before the restructuring and reprogramming of your system, for the simple reason, if someone is still holding on to old ways of being, manifested reality will be a repetition of old cycles.

Healing is done best by going to the root, identifying the wounds, narratives they generated due to trauma, limiting beliefs, insecurities, doubts, projections and shedding such layers that are not a reflection of your true authentic being.  After a period of healing and inner work it will become easier to engage in activities that contribute to a conscious, intentional and healthy lifestyle and form healthy habits more efficiently.

However, after going through this first stage of healing and self-actualization, you must develop a high-level self-love which is a combination of self-compassion (divine mother energy) and self-respect (divine father energy), in order to maintain balance in your life, so that you will not get lost in being obsessively spiritual or destructive, as both these extremes are deadly and artificial ways of living. Walking on the middle path with awareness, mindfulness, conscious, intentional way of living is considered to be sustainable for human beings.

Walking on this middle path is not only useful to avoid rock bottoms but also helpful to walk on a path of enlightenment and ascend spiritually, while being firmly grounded in the present moment adhering to all human responsibilities, without losing a sense of reality. Just like a tree, roots must reach the deepest parts of the earth so that branches can touch the heavens above. We as humans exist in between, thus must embrace our paradoxical nature, by living an intentional balanced life.

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Hitting rock bottom

Often when people go through a tower moment which can be a heartbreak, bankruptcy or any other chaotropic event, it’s normal for them to hit the rock bottom or start walking on a path of destruction. In particular, such painful events more often than not bring out childhood trauma or old wounds that were repressed for a really long time. If not recognised on time by practising mindfulness and awareness, one may be completely consumed by pain and sorrow, ultimately coming to a major emotional outburst or mental breakdown. Thus, it is important to recognise the symptoms of entering a toxic cycle or stepping towards a path of destruction, and to find the courage and wisdom to sit with the pain, understand the pain, learn from it, heal from it and evolve to become a better version of ourselves without numbing ourselves or completely losing ourselves. However, rising above darkness and choosing light is not as easy as it sounds, yet with practice it will become easier to turn pain into power and alchemize energies before hitting the rock bottom. 

To practice awareness, to gain clarity and break free from chains that keep you stuck in toxic cycles, requires a higher level of consciousness. Consciousness may operate on a level of higher or lower awareness. If you possess a higher level of consciousness, you don’t have to go all the way down to rock bottom to have the realisation that you are on a path of destruction. Your high level of awareness will send signals that the way of living is self-destructive and is in need of change. Once you start receiving such signs you may use tools such as meditation, journaling, meeting a therapist, going for a walk, talking to a trusted friend or simply taking a break (depends on each individual), to change your path to one of enlightenment. Therefore, it is crucial to surround yourself with genuinely loving and caring people who will not only help you through a tough time but also will help you become more aware when they notice you going spiralling downwards and help to reflect on your actions and recent behaviours. But it must be noted that all the help or support in the world will not help you until you choose to help yourself and break toxic cycles to become a better version of yourself.

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Boys don't cry!

Men tend to have a hard time expressing their feelings and being vulnerable as they are for centuries punished for showing any emotion other than hate, anger, chaotic aggression. Statements like ‘big boys don’t cry’, ‘why are you crying like a girl?’, ‘be a man’ have robbed them of their own sensitivity, expression of emotion and the right to be a human.

It’s sad how ‘being man enough’ is somehow seen as having no emotions and not allowing another man to have emotions, when it is our own vulnerabilities that makes us human and our sensitivity that helps us to relate and empathise with each other. This misogynistic approach towards manhood is seriously affecting the mental health of men and it’s safe to say misogyny is as brutal towards men as it is towards women, maybe even more. Because they are being attacked and punished for their own sadness.

Women are also guilty of looking down upon and mocking men for their sensitivity or vulnerability. Some are quite uncomfortable when their partner is vulnerable because they find it hard to support them emotionally and help to navigate feelings. Thus, on many occasions men tend to completely withdraw. This is a result of being brought up in a misogynistic environment. Men and women are not used to men expressing emotions.

It takes emotional courage to open up emotionally. However, sharing with courage is often met with punishment or betrayal. If we cannot cry, we will be consumed by our sadness, making it hard for us to breathe, eventually completely drowning in the sea of sadness. It’s unhealthy for a person not to be able to cry, however this doesn’t suggest that one needs to be crying regardless of the place or time. Stoicism is equally important. Thus, we must adopt a balanced approach.

Resistance to show vulnerability dates back to our childhood, where a parental figure or a teacher punished us for being sad or for showing emotions in general. Crying always was met with hostility, especially when it came to men and were labelled as ‘being gay’ or ‘being girly’.

Crying has always been referred to as a ‘feminine emotion’ rather than an expression of ‘human emotion’. When intense emotions felt within are met with intense hostility and brutal criticism instead of empathy, compassion, understanding and kindness, a person completely shuts down and builds a high wall around his heart overtime.

Due to this reason when most men, even when they open up, they come across in a very aggressive manner. The tone of expression is often mixed with anger because it’s easier to be angry than sad. It’s a trauma response seen in those (regardless of the gender), who were punished or mocked for their sensitivities or vulnerabilities. Those who were asked to toughen up and bury their feelings, which has overtime accumulated as unexpressed rage, which can be destructive and chaotic, if not navigated and released properly.

That’s why it’s imperative to get professional help when it comes to a person who seeks to have a healthy expression of emotion, as professionals or even a conscious partner may be more equipped to help first to release anger in a healthy manner and find the right vocabulary to articulate and express feelings and emotions, in a calmer manner without any emotional outbursts or mental breakdowns.

Psychological safety and validation of emotion must be provided to find the emotional courage to express emotions. A therapeutic space to be vulnerable with no judgement. For most men it’s found in their own company as they struggle to show vulnerability in front of anyone else. Changing the narrative from being vulnerable to consciously expressing emotions in an honest way without any chaotic dissolution, may help us all to find courage to express.

This approach is not limited to men, as women are also ridiculed, mocked or shamed for having emotions or crying, especially in a work space. Because they are expected to bring forward a more masculine stoic version in performance. Honest expression of emotions, will set the stage for honest conversations and peaceful resolutions.

Emotions including sadness, are meant to be experienced and felt. Each time when we stop ourselves from crying or being vulnerable, we are closing our hearts, going into survival mode, stop living, stop seeing the beauty in the world. If we don’t feel sadness, we will never know what happiness feels like. That’s the purpose of duality in life. One exists for the other to be understood. Without the darkness we’ll never recognise the light. That’s why it’s so important to feel sadness and cry, as it opens doors for the light to come in.

[aadhya-schoolofthoughts]

Higher self

The popular version of higher self is an ego ideal. It’s viewed as a battle between good and evil. The fixed higher self, dictated by the ego, is a version that chooses light over darkness, often created when we were kids. As vulnerable children, we envision ourselves to be an idealized version tainted by insecurities and trauma experienced at that time, and place it on a pedestal to be our highest version of ourselves.

Realistically speaking it’s not possible to truly fully embody our highest self and become our best self, as identity is a process, a shifting river, it keeps changing, it keeps flowing. We change depending on the context, the people and the surroundings. These may not be major or drastic changes of identity. Energy keeps changing in subtle ways. 

We must acknowledge the fact that we are not fixed as we believe ourselves to be. If we are not fixed beings, why should we expect our higher selves to be a fixed thing. The universe itself is experiencing life through us, and is ever changing. In Buddhism it is said that the only constant thing in life is change itself. Viewing our soul or higher self as something permanent everlasting entity, contradicts with the notion of reincarnation. As the purpose of reincarnation is soul evolution. Higher self therefore can be viewed as having a higher perspective in life. Looking at life as a journey to have experiences without labelling them as good or bad but as learning experiences to evolve as souls.

Thoughts are energy. Our thoughts create our reality. It is the perspective that entertains thoughts determines the quality of our vibrational state of being. As masters of our own reality instead of playing the victim we can take the power back, use everything experienced to empower ourselves by turning pain into power. However, this does not mean that we are forbidden to entertain negative thoughts. It simply means we choose not to act on them or get stuck in toxic karmic cycles. Emotions are meant to be felt and released, while making sure we conduct ourselves in alignment with a higher perspective.

When higher self and lower self are understood from an energetic point of view, as different degrees of energy on the same spectrum without pedestrianising or idealising, it is easier for us to be more accepting of fluctuations of energies without feeling guilt, shame or anger. We become more compassionate towards our own paradoxical nature of being.

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Who am I?

In the simplest yet complicated terms, we are human beings. Which means we exist in two dimensions, human and being. Human is the form assigned for this lifetime. Being is pure consciousness. A balanced and fruitful human life is a dance between these two dimensions.

Sole identification of form which is subject to the time dimension, keeps us trapped in our ego. We can be liberated from the same once we stop deriving worth from it. Detachment means nothing has power over you. Your worth is not on you, it’s in you, hence you no longer need to seek external validation to feel whole or worthy.

However, refraining from deriving worth or identifying with form doesn’t mean we should stop caring for our body. Having a positive body image, maintaining it with the right kind of nutrients and proper exercise is very important as the body is the vessel that helps us to have a human experience on this plane, thus it must be treated with utmost love and care.

In essence, we are consciousness, derived from the source having a human experience detached yet connected to all living beings, enjoying pleasures of the world while learning lessons for this lifetime, with the realization and acceptance that everything in the outer world is subject to the inevitability of change.

Coming into this awakened state will help us to live a comfortable, peaceful and blissful life while attending to day-to-day human responsibilities without fear of loss or anxiety about a potential future. Middle path is awareness of our true nature and experiencing human life from an elevated state of mind.

The quality of our human life experience depends on our level of consciousness. Unawaken souls manifest a 3-Dimensional(3D) reality, trapped in their ego and karmic cycles of pain and suffering. Liberation from karmic cycles takes place when we choose to forgive and release all attachments to people, places, situations, events and the outer world in general and rise above to a 4-dimensional(4D) reality. 

It is at this stage we are aware that we exist in two dimensions; form and formless, human and being. The art of balancing these two aspects by walking on a middle path is called Dharma. Souls are considered to be mature souls when they reach this level of consciousness as they are now aware of the form that is human, and formless that is consciousness. In this level of consciousness thoughts are in a space of awareness and presence of awareness transforms thoughts to consciousness that encourages us to take inspired actions in a manner prescribed by Dharma.

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The Present

The level of consciousness dictates the reality you experience. In general, our reality is formed and shaped based on what we feel in the present moment (our emotional state). When it comes to an immature soul, if not equipped to regulate emotions, whatever the chaotic emotional state felt within will be manifested into their reality. Modern day media and toxic surroundings take full advantage of this position, and manipulate the general public into collectively manifesting a reality to exploit and/or drain their energies.

In order to rise above this toxic environment, you must first let go of the stories fed by your thoughts on a daily basis. You are not your thoughts. Ego likes to get attached to thoughts and label everything to feel safe due to the fear of the unknown. As a result, when you give prominence to ego, you live in a state of lack and constant fear, in a survival mode. This is a very primitive way of experiencing a human life. Letting go of ego will inevitably calm our reactive muscle, to allow our cognitive part of our brain to respond appropriately from a higher level of consciousness.

However, you should also not go to the other extreme either, as both ends are artificial ways of living. One must awaken to the fact that the only moment that’s real is the NOW (the Present). Past and future only exist as memories or anticipation respectively. Thus, every second is a gift that provides us with the opportunity to be fully present and take inspired action towards a desirable future.

Eckhart Tolle in his book “Oneness with all life” notes that our primary purpose of life is to eliminate psychological time (i. past, present, future) from our consciousness and our secondary purpose to identify what needs to be done using the said consciousness within the time dimension. He further states that, while time is a horizontal dimension that spreads from past, present and future, the portal to the vertical dimension of consciousness is the present moment.  Thus, your present level of consciousness will dictate the nature of your reality. Events from the past may be viewed in a completely different way after becoming a high vibrational being, viewing life from a higher perspective, and whatever felt in the present moment shall be manifested as the future reality. That is the power of NOW. The whole narrative of your life will change after starting to lead a conscious and intentional life focusing on the present moment.

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Body Image

ASPIRATIONAL BODY IMAGE

It is a version of your body you aspire to become in the future. Majority of the time it’s the ideal standard of beauty or the body image, that’s being chased as the ‘perfect body’, coupled with the emotion of dissatisfaction and lack-mindset. Because you are not satisfied with the way you look, you are trying to find a standard outwardly that’s considered to be attractive to feel better about yourself.

When coming from this state of mind, there’s a high risk of falling into a trap of unhealthy supplements/diets or cosmetic procedures and risking your health. Even if you achieve the said target body image through effort, discipline and a consistent workout, you will never be satisfied because by then a different version of ideal body image may be trending. So, you will be constantly chasing an illusion if you try to shape yourself according to an ideal body image outwardly.

To avoid being lost in unrealistic standards of beauty or body image, it’s important to understand your own body, its needs and come from a place of love rather than hate. That is, you are inspired to become the ideal body image that feels authentic to you as an act of love to your body, to become a better, a healthier version of yourself, a gift from you to your body, as you love every cell, every molecule of your body and your body deserves to be treated in the best possible way because you love it. You are changing the narrative from one of self-hatred and self-pity to a love letter and gift to your body, and your mindset from lack to abundance, you are speaking kind words to your body and not words of anger and hate. 

Once you internalise the said idealised body image it becomes the promise to ultimately become that version of you. Closing the gap between delusional thinking and reality. 

In practice, the body image that has an aspirational positive potential, may foster negative emotions when you are looking at the current state of your body. To avoid this, it’s better to get emotions positive or negative out of the way and hold a neutral stand to look at the current body from a place of facts and data. For example, I weigh this much, this is my height, these are the things practically need to be done to bridge the gap between the ideal self-image and body self.

This, in particular, is beneficial for a person dealing with body dysmorphic disorder, to heal dissociation and ground themselves. It is better to objectively look at the facts on how the body has transformed over the years and reasons for it, how to get to a better position and on that basis to develop a practical plan to get in shape and/or develop healthier habits/lifestyle without engaging in any self-hate talk or shame. Looking at things factually may help you get into a mindset to take inspired actions towards a goal rather than looking at it as a far-fetched dream or an illusion.

Feelings of ungroundedness can be remedied through mindfulness in-flesh. As you are experiencing your body in motion, it shall anchor you back into the reality. Then body image becomes something you experience rather than an identity. It helps with dissociation and to get out of your head, because your body becomes a living experience. The body image is felt within.

When you are fully grounded, conscious of your body, it changes the way you move, the way you eat, sleeping patterns, what you consume not only as edible food but also as soul, emotional and mental food. In reality, body image has a lot to do with the internal experience of your body than your workout or fitness.

DEEPER PERSPECTIVE

When you heal on an emotional level the physical self tends to follow the lead, because most of our relationships with food, lifestyle, diet and habits have a lot to do with our past trauma, coping mechanisms, unhealed childhood wounds or past trauma. Once you start your inner healing work, your perspective starts to shift, and start to live more consciously and intentionally. This will also make it easier to choose a body image inwardly that feels authentic to you.

Most of the time when you heal, you start to automatically reject unhealthy food, habits and lifestyles, even on cheat days you start to eat proportionately. Once you start to feel good in your own body by cleansing it, you don’t want to consume trash anymore on a mental, physical, emotional, energetic and spiritual level.

It's best to heal and self-actualise to be aware of your authentic version of ideal body image rather than following trendy standards. If there’s unresolved trauma and do not feel safe in your body, you will become so fixated on a body image and pedestalise it, because it is something you feel safe rather than the reality of you. Therefore, no matter how much your body changes, you will be dissatisfied with it as you are disconnected from reality and constantly chasing the idealised body image (an illusion). You need to be very clear about who you are and the story you tell yourself in order not to fall victim to a false sense of identity.