The Path to Self-Realization: Sit Quietly and Create Calmness (Heroic +1 #1,405)

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about our heroic Big three protocol and the fact that focusing our brains on who we are at our best, even just for a minute or three in the morning, programs our minds to find opportunities to shine. And that can be life changing. Echo won a shot at being 40% more energized, 20% more productive, and 15% more connected in minutes a day. Well move from theory to practice with the Heroic app now. In that +1 I mentioned the fact that I wanted to chat about the pair of virtues that show up in my Energy, work and Love protocol. I commit to living with these virtues along with a bunch of others every single day. Before I tell you what those virtues are in the next one, let's create some more context with a little more Yogananda wisdom in living fearlessly. He tells us, and I quote, Many people come to me to talk about their worries. I urge them to sit quietly, meditate and pray and after feeling calmness within, to think of the alternative ways by which the problem can be solved or eliminated. When the mind is calm in God, when the faith is strong in God, they find a solution to their problem. Merely ignoring problems won't solve them, but neither will worrying about them. He continues by saying, meditate until you become calm. Then put your mind on the problem and pray deeply for God's help. Concentrate on the problem and you will find the solution without going through the terrible strain of worry. And finally he tells us, remember greater than a million reasonings of the mind and is to sit and meditate upon God until you feel calmness within. Then say to the Lord, I can't solve my problem alone even if I thought a zillion different thoughts. But I can solve it by placing it in your hands, asking first for your guidance and then following through by thinking out the various angles for a possible solution. And now, finally he says, God does help those who help themselves. When your mind is calm and filled with faith, after praying to God in meditation, you are able to see various answers to your problems. And because your mind is calm, you are capable of picking out the best solution. Follow that solution and you will meet with success. This is applying the science of religion in your daily life. Now as you may know, Yogananda created what is known as the self realization fellowship. The main idea behind this concept of self with a capital S realization. Well, he tells us, self realization is the knowing in body, mind and soul that we are one with the omnipresence of God that we do not have to pray, that it comes to us, that we are not merely near it at all times, but that God's omnipresence is our omnipresent, that we are just as much a part of him now as we ever will be. All we have to do is improve our knowing. And that's basically just another way to say what the great Franciscan priest Richard Rohr tells us in Falling Upward. Check out those notes where he tells us, as Desmond Tutu once told me on a recent trip to Cape Town, we are only the light bulbs, Richard, and our job is just to remain screwed in you want to live fearlessly? Connect to something much bigger than yourself. Trust that wisdom. How? Well, here's a hint. Notice the most frequently used word in the passages above. If you could see my copy of the book, you'd see just how many times 6 Yogananda used the words calm or calmness in the above passage. I circled it countless other times throughout the book. If we want to connect with God, or whatever you choose to call that power that is bigger and wiser than our small selves, we must calm our minds. Let's do that today.