A Voggy Morning

This morning when I woke and stepped out on the lanai in Maui the sky and horizon were blurred together by a dense layer of vog. No that is not a typo. The word is a portmanteau of the words “volcanic”, “smog”, and “fog”. The term is in common use in the Hawaiian Islands, where the Kilauea volcano, on the Island of Hawaiʻi (aka “The Big Island”), has been erupting continuously since 1983. Based on June 2008 measurements, Kīlauea emits 2,000–4,000 tons of sulfur dioxide every day.

I longed for the crystal clear air that allowed me to see clearly the blue sky and the island of Lanai, some 8.5 miles across the channel. Some of the vog has cleared at this writing but there is no real clarity of sight. The island is a very dim outline just to the right of the tree in the photo.

There are emotional foggy days like that for all of us. Times when we, for a variety of reasons are not able to “see” clearly. We have heard people say, “I seem to be in a fog today.”, and we know what they mean. I am assuming here that all of us would like more clarity. We all, I believe, have within us the ability to perceive life and all its variants with much more clarity than we normally apply. So what can we do to enable us to “see” more clearly? I will share a few of my insights and what I have learned.

In my experience, gaining clarity is actually very simple…because we already possess it deep within ourselves. The difficulty is being able to tap into this knowing, first, because we are bombarded with so much information every day, and second because we look for clarity “out there” rather than within.

The things that help me to be more clear are:
Meditation….. This practice helps me go within and “see” with my heart (in singularity) and not with my head (often in duality). It helps to clear out the clutter.
Mindfulness….. Mindfulness helps me focus on the moment and with Grateful Appreciation breathe into it so that all else falls away. “Seeing” from this vantage point is much different than trying to see through the fog of the complexity of everything around us.
Clearing my energy….. As I have said before on this blog, everything is energy. When my energy gets muddled up with the energy of others a lack of clarity results. It is like a radio station that is not tuned precisely and another station is blending into it. The result is we are trying to hear two at once and can not really hear either one. When I do a “clearing”, a process of tuning out and detaching from the other energy, I am once again able to “see” and act with clarity.

Let me speak briefly about meditation here and I will focus on the other practices in another blog post. If you are new to meditation be confident that you can do it. I will share a method you may employ to begin. This alone will be helpful increase your clarity.

1. Find a quiet place set aside your desired time. If you are just beginning do 5 – 10 minutes. Set the timer on your phone so you don’t have to think about time.
2. Sit in a comfortable position with your spine as straight as is comfortable.
3. Close you eyes and bring your attention inward focusing on your heart space.
4. Breathe deeply with awareness centering on your breath using all your senses.
5. Notice your body going into a state of relaxation. First your scalp, then your eyes, now feel your jaw relax. Feel the relaxation move down your body to your shoulders, your arms, your fingers, your abdomen and on to your feet and toes. Continue to breathe deeply. Some find it helpful, if your mind wanders, to count down 10 to 1 as they relax.
6. You should now be in a deep meditative state of relaxation. Continue to relax, be in the moment and focus on your breathing. If random thoughts, like what you need to do today, filter in, treat them like passing clouds, let them go, and bring your focus back to Now.
7. If you need more guidance and direction there are many guided meditations on the web. One of my favorites, and I have recommended it to many, is the Six Phase Meditation let by Vishen Lakiani. Here is the link to the meditation on YouTube. http://youtu.be/EaRu14P9H84

Try meditation for a period of 21 days and then report back. You will be amazed at the increase in the clarity and direction of your life. If you would like to join others for a 21 Day discipline follow this link.

http://blog.omvana.com/mind/21-day-meditation-challenge

In Grateful Appreciation for the clarity that comes from Meditation, Mindfulness and Energy Clearing.

Namaste

Don