Episode Transcript
We Americans enjoy a wonderful and powerful way of life, but internally and in relationships, we may wish for better. Join me as we look beneath the surface and gain insights to transform every aspect of your life. My name is Dr. Ann O'Hare, and this is The Spiritual American. Hello everyone and welcome to the Spiritual American. My name is Dr. Anne O'Hare and I'm your host. And today we will be talking about living from the heart. And if you've noticed, this is the second episode with that same title. So we're going to go a little deeper today into that topic. We talked about this last time, but this time I wanted to talk about giving from the heart also. So in the last episode, we talked about authenticity. To be real, being real. I think if I'm being real, that's a foundation of something. Now, of course I want to be real versus being phony or being fake. I want to be authentic. I want to be real. I said in the last episode, the word authentic means authority. I have authority. I am telling the truth about where I am, how I feel, what's going on with me. That is a foundation for something. It's a foundation for building self respect, but I'm going to say it's also a foundation for decision making, for emerging different qualities of myself. One of which would be generosity or giving. So living from the heart. If I am authentic and I'm working on myself and I'm getting myself into a more powerful self esteem that I'm able to make decisions, set boundaries and change my external life. That's one level. That's a foundation. And we need to do that because if we don't work on our external circumstances, they're going to keep pulling my mind. I'm not going to have enough energy to actually give from the mind. So living from the heart, first of all, means that I am getting in touch with how I really feel. Making decisions and making my life match what I really feel. And actually that was the end of the other episode where the miracle of living from the heart is when the outside circumstances start to match how you really feel and who you really are. That was the end of the last one. So now we're going to build on that. So. I've built this foundation. Now everything's kind of okay in my life. I feel good. I have my family, I have my job, I have whatever, and I'm feeling good. Now I want to build to the next level. So there are those of you out there who are probably in that stage where you feel relatively satisfied with your decisions, with your life and everything, but you maybe wanna elevate your experience. So we have that foundation, and now we're going into the generosity level. We're going into the giving part. So it's living from the heart. I'm going to say now giving from the heart. And if you've been watching these episodes, you will hear me talk about this angelic consciousness or subtle consciousness where I'm getting in touch with pure feelings and good wishes. And I'm actually going to take that a step further today also. So, but let's talk about the. good wishes and pure feelings. So let's say I'm in meditation and I'm taking a few minutes here and there, and I'm going to give to the world, I'm going to give good feelings to the world. Peace, love, generosity. That everyone should feel peace. All souls and all of nature should feel peaceful. I am peaceful. I am a generous soul. I'm a peaceful soul. I'm a loving soul. And everyone should feel hope and peace and feel taken care of. That is what we call mental service. Mansa Seva. It's another word for that. Mansa means in the mind and Seva means service. So I'm bringing my attention, I'm getting in touch with my feelings and I'm wishing it for the whole world. That's Mansa Seva. So what do I do when I'm not sitting in meditation? If I'm not sitting in meditation and I'm bringing my attention in and going into this kind of subtle world where it's all the subtle feelings are being shared, which is great because I have to practice that. I have to stimulate that benevolent energy inside myself. So I practice in meditation. And like I said, in previous episodes, the best way to do that is to use the words, all, all of nature, all souls. I feel peaceful. I'm a peaceful soul and all souls and all of nature should feel peace. That's my wish in my heart of hearts. So let's say you've been practicing that now. We're going to graduate to the next level which is living that way. How do I live that way? Well, I'm going to introduce another word, which we, the Brahma Kumaris, we're all working on this January now, January, 2025, as I'm taping this and we're using, we're trying to work on this kind of giving called Sakaash, Sakaash. Is the name of the word and what it means. And if you ask different yogis, like myself, if you ask them, you might get a little bit of a different, definition, but what I'm going to say, what is Sakash? Sakash means that I have, not just am I generating feelings for others like I wish that they would have, but I have this power inside that I'm sharing the power of peace, the power of purity, the power of love, the power of generosity, the power of silence and wherever I'm directing that power, it's going so I can do that while I'm walking around. Can send that emerge that power in myself and look at my body. I can look at, my family, I can look at the camera and bring up that consciousness. So if none of you have meditated before, how is this going to help? What I would like for you to know is that it's not just about. Getting a better job or stopping fighting in the house. Although we have to get that because if we don't have that, we're not going to be able to go to these other spiritual levels. But there are spiritual activities that we can engage in, in my mind, using pure feelings, using good wishes, and eventually graduating to. Generating this power like spiritual power and it's not really related to anyone in particular, it's just that I have the power. You could also say that it's God's energy or energy of the universe and I'm reflecting it. I'm reflecting it out, but I'm in touch with it. How is this living from the heart? How is this giving from the heart? I want to say that the only thing that ever feels real in our lives is the things that we do all the time. Those are the things that are going to feel real to us. For instance, let's say I am meditating, Once every other day or something like that. And then the rest of the time I'm going to the bar and I'm going to the movies and I'm doing this and I'm doing that, but I'm meditating once a week. What's going to feel more real. The thing that I'm doing all the time is going to feel more real to me and more impactful to me than the thing that I'm doing once in a while. Think about it for a minute. Impactful doesn't mean excited or sometimes we think that anything spiritual has to be like fireworks or anything that's really important has to be like fireworks or very emotional or something like that. The things that have the most impact on us are the things that we're doing all the time. Look at your body. For example, your body is a good example for this. If I am sitting down all the time and I don't do any exercise, or let's say I exercise once a week, I'm not going to be able to realize what it feels like if I exercise every day. Every day is going to have a much bigger impact than once in a while. And I'm saying now that I'm always advocating daily meditation practice as a foundation, just the foundation. But what I'm talking about today is that I can walk around all day long and be giving powerful what we use the word sakaash, which means spiritual energy, love, power, wisdom, generosity. And I can fill my mind with that power. And I'll share another little thing. Let's say you're listening to this and you're like, I can't relate to anything she's talking about right now. I'm going to say, if you can't relate to what I'm saying. Try to make it into something that you can relate to. So for instance, let's say it's God, for instance. So let's say this idea of spiritual power and energy, like by itself, doesn't make any sense. But if I say it's God's energy, maybe that's the connection. Like, wait a minute, God has energy, right? It's not just that God is there. God actually has something to contribute to the world How is God going to get his peace and love and power into the world? How do I connect with God? The only way I can connect with God is through my mind. There's all kinds of things in the Bible, you know, be still and know that I am or be, prayer. What is prayer? I'm connecting with God in my mind. So what I'm suggesting is when, not only when you're praying. But why can't I bring forth God's energy and God's power and God's presence all day long? Why can't I do that? I can do that and I'm sharing that today. Whether it feels better for you to say God or it feels better to you to be more scientific and logical. Either way is fine because. Practically, it's the same thing, meaning I'm filling myself with peace and power and generosity and whatever else is there is not as powerful as that. And now I'm sitting here looking at a camera and I'm filled with that power. And then I get up from this chair and I'm filled with that power and I go walk outside and I'm filled with that power. We have to practice because we're going from being way, way, way, way externally focused, right? To trying to work on our emotional states and trying to make our lifestyle something that we can deal with. To learning how to be more generous, that angelic consciousness, like I feel this and I wish everybody would feel it. To I am that and now I am being it here and being it there and remembering God here and remembering God there. I'm bringing. Godly energy or spiritual power, you could say, into each scene of my life. And I'm going to say one more thing and then I'll end it here. Even if you're listening to this and you're saying, still don't get it. Use it on your mind. Don't worry about anything else. Just use it on your mind. So let's say that you are having a regretful feeling or a lot of excess thinking and you would like to have peace in your mind, let's say, you can bring forth a powerful feeling of spiritual energy, not forcing against the other thing, just bring it forth and make it match in intensity. So, for instance, let's say I am, having a little bit of a critical voice or something in my mind or I'm a little distracted or the mind is going from here to there and I'm thinking about things that I don't need to be thinking about now. Worried about a person or remembering something that happened and I, I can recognize now from my spiritual practice that that's not something that I want to use my mind for, right? So what I'm doing now is I'm bringing forth this spiritual, pure energy, and I'm not going after the thing. I'm not trying to change it. I'm not trying to stop it. I'm just bringing forth the energy in the same intensity to match it. So if this feels like it's five degrees of intensity, I'm going to bring five degrees of sakaash that spiritual power. And I'm going to tell the secret what happens when I do that. What happens when I do that is the other thing disappears. What I'm sharing with you now is Raj yoga, yoga of the intellect and the sovereign yoga yoga practice to be self sovereign, to be the king of yourself, of your own mind. I'm going to leave it there. I know that if anybody who practices meditation and is interested in spirituality is watching this, they would be interested. But I also hope that if you have not started a spiritual journey, or if you're interested a little bit, that you understood the steps that I just laid out. That it's a steps that you have to go, that we have to go through, because we're all starting out very externally focused. That's just the way it is. We're all starting out there. So in my experience, you really can't skip steps. You can't just go from here to fully actualized. I think there's steps to be followed. So I hope that you got something out of that. So I'll leave it there. Our slogan is heal, empower and serve. And until next time, take care. Um, uh,
