Your Highest Value

Visiting for the First Time? Read Me First

Perhaps one of the most important parts of a strong spiritual practice is the practice of tarka or reflective journaling. Reflection upon your inner and outer life is essential if you wish to progress along the path. These reflections on your life can help you see your mind more clearly. Your relationship to yourself, the world, and others is revealed in each journal entry. We can sometimes be blinded by our own beliefs or trapped in a cycle of thinking that is unhealthy for us.

Tarka can help us to illumine the way before us, discard old beliefs, and change our attitudes and ways of thinking.

This blog is designed to help you reflect upon your life and examine your mind so that you may travel the path of enlightenment with greater ease and harmony.

Set aside a little time each day to write in your journal and respond to the prompts in the blog.

The benefits of a strong tarka practice will reveal themselves over time, particularly if you take some time out each month and reread what you have written in your journal. You will find patterns in your life and your examination of these patterns will help you make the changes in your life that you are striving for. The wisdom you gain will help you live the life you seek.

Daily Reflection and Journaling Prompt
In a few short weeks, the new year will be upon us and most of us will begin working fervently towards a new goal. Most of us will lose interest in that goal in 1-2 weeks and give up. One reason that many people lose interest so quickly is because the goals people set for themselves are not aligned with their highest value. Take some time today to reflect on your highest value. Some examples might be - your spouse, your kids, family, community, church, work, health, finances, etc. Once you have identified your highest value set your goals with that value in mind.

Day 32 - New Beginnings

Today's Tarka Practice
Yesterday was the new moon. In yoga philosophy, this symbolizes the beginnings of things. It is an opportunity to step back, reassess and set a new goal or start a new practice. If there is something you have always wanted to try or a new habit you would like to form now is the time to begin. It is a chance for a do-over. It is a time for a change in consciousness.

In your journal, make a list of some things you would like to begin anew. Make it simple. Make it something that you can do in less than 30 minutes a day. For example, perhaps you would like to eat better. Commit to adding more fruit and veggies to your diet. Maybe you want to go back to school. Spend 30 minutes a day or less doing a little research on what it will take to get you where you want to go. Once you have selected one thing from your list do this practice until the next new moon. And, don't forget to journal about your experience. Smiles.

Shanti

Day 33 - Beginner's Mind

Today's Tarka Practice
In celebration of the new moon on Sunday this week's theme is about beginnings.

In both the Zen Buddhist tradition and within Hindu philosophy there is a practice known as "Beginner's Mind". This practice focuses on the idea that when we begin something for the first time, we are open, vulnerable, and flexible. Because we don't know what to expect when we try something new, we have not yet created a wall, we have not yet made associations, we have not yet come to expect something specific to happen and so our minds remain open and free. In these traditions, we are asked to remain in this state of consciousness throughout the practice, and we are asked to remain in this state of consciousness in our lives - open, free, unencumbered. When we are in this state of mind, we can see the possibilities for our lives, we experience hope and joy and we can look at the world through fresh eyes.

Today, I want you to spend the entire day looking at everything as if you have never seen it before and as if you have never experienced it before. Try to look at the day through fresh eyes, look at the people you know through fresh eyes and see their beauty. At the end of the day or perhaps the next morning, write down what you experienced. How did this shift in your consciousness to beginner's mind change your everyday experience?

Shanti

Day 34 - It's A New Day

Today's Tarka Practice
The great thing about waking up every morning is that you get to start all over again. Any feelings from a previous day can be set aside and you have the chance to have a better day than the day before. If you made some mistakes you wish you hadn't made, if you had a bad day or wish you had responded differently to a friend or family member, you have the opportunity to do that today, right now, in this moment.

The beauty of being able to begin again is that you can change your thoughts, your attitude, and your life. Even if yesterday did not go as planned, you get a fresh start today. Let go of yesterday and focus on the day you wish to create today.

For today's tarka, take a piece of paper and tear it into small pieces. Write the disappointments of yesterday on these small pieces of paper. Fill a bowl with water and place the pieces of paper in the water. Watch the ink fade from the paper. As the ink fades, let go of all of those disappointments.

Go back to your journal and design your day. Write down how you would like your day to look today. If you were creating your ideal day, what would it be?

Shanti