Our daily personal involvement with each other

Isvara's mystic name is OM, or AUM (written with the generic Devanagari symbol ? Om is a simple sound with a powerful meaning. OM is the entire world compressed into one syllable that signifies the unity of heart, body, and soul. Om is at the heart of yoga and represents the essence of atman and ultimate reality. OM is everywhere. It is in the rush of the tornado's winds, the crackle of a flame or the rumble in the ocean's belly. The primordial sound OM exists in the drama of creation and deep meditation after stilling the mind chatter. Reciting the mystical sound OM consistently while meditating on the letters allows the atman (inner self) to manifest. We begin trusting and treating ourselves with more warmth, tenderness, and kindness. We take on the view and understanding that everyone wants to be happy. Over time, we become aware of our emotional triggers, embrace our experiences as a gift for learning, and have more space to love without expectation. We communicate our needs more clearly, make time for self-care, and realize that everyone is experiencing some level of pain and suffering. For example, Jonathan, a brilliant engineer, was on the promotion path to be a director. He was a sincere, friendly, savvy leader who always strived to do the right thing for his team and business. Jonathan expected himself to perform at peak levels and had an unwavering drive for excellence. At times, he was self-critical when he did not meet his or others' expectations. I asked him, What would it look like if you were kind to yourself right now? He paused and, in that moment, noticed his inner critic in action. From this perspective, nearly winning (as opposed to actually winning) keeps active a generalized motivation for desirable experience. Defining Goals as Concrete or Abstract

There is an old story of a man who comes across three bricklayers busy at work. He asks the first bricklayer, What are you doing? I'm laying brick. He comes to the second bricklayer and asks him, What are you doing? This man replies, I'm building a wall. Still somewhat unsatisfied, the man approaches the third bricklayer and repeats his question, to which the bricklayer replies, I am building a cathedral. This story illustrates how the same action can take on different meaning depending on how it connects to goals. This idea is central to action identification theory (Vallacher & Wegner, 1987), which was introduced briefly in article 2. Distractions will abound, but once a devotee fixes their attention on God -- the one point and truth -- then they will achieve samadhi. Samadhi is not only experienced by closeted monks or celibate yogis trapped in Tibetan monasteries or Indian caves. There are great yogi and yogini who are parents running a typical household. This goes to show that enlightenment is only difficult, not impossible. In this state of samadhi, samskara and the ego have ceased, and only pure consciousness is left. The heart is fully awake and feels larger than life itself. It feels like living life at 200%, where one possesses infinite power and bliss that helps you see the divinity in everything. This stage can last from a few hours to a few days. Because of the endless joy in this state, many who reach here do not wish to return. However, there is a caveat: Anyone who stays in nirvikalpa samadhi for over 21 days will have their soul depart from their physical body for good. With this new realization, he consciously started being more kind to himself. Whenever he found himself engaging in negative self-talk, he stopped and shifted to being more positive and forgiving when he didn't meet his expectations.

By being kind to himself, he had more capacity to be more kind and patient with others when they struggled to meet work expectations. Compassion is the ability to meet our own and others' pain and suffering with an open heart. Cultivating loving-kindness paves the way for us to be compassionate to ourselves and others. Compassion is different than empathy in that you not only have the capacity to connect with another person's challenges or pain, you have a deep desire to do something to help them. I learned the art of compassion from my own and my mother's healing journeys. As mentioned previously, in my early thirties, when I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, I felt shame and sadness that my body was struggling while my friends were healthy and pursuing their dreams. Inevitably, my pain became my purpose, motivating me to study nutrition, psychology, neuroscience, yoga, and meditation to better understand the healing power of my body, heart, and mind intelligences. Through healthy lifestyle changes, consistent yoga and meditation practice, and support from holistic health practitioners, I transformed my health and developed immense compassion for those who face difficult hardships. This theory explains how people conceive of action--either their own or others'--in ways that range from very concrete to very abstract. As the story above illustrates, the three bricklayers conceive of their actions in different ways, ranging from the concrete level of stacking bricks layered with mortar to the more abstract end state of building a cathedral. One way to understand the key difference is that a concrete interpretation of an action is about how the action is accomplished, while a more abstract interpretation describes why the action is performed. Thus, we can say that each bricklayer is building a wall by laying bricks (more concrete) and is doing so because he wants to build a cathedral (more abstract). In the brick story, each worker has one interpretation, but in reality, any person can interpret the same action at different levels of abstraction. In fact, we can imagine that each person has a mental hierarchy of interpretations arranged like a ladder. One can mentally move up the ladder to form broader, more comprehensive conceptions of an action, or down to form concrete conceptions of how that same action is accomplished. Action identification theory The theory that explains how people conceive of action--their own or others'--in ways that range from very concrete to very abstract. Being able to identify our actions at different levels in the goal hierarchy is very handy. Level Three: Sahaja Samadhi. This stage of natural or spontaneous enlightenment.

This stage is where the yogi can maintain inner silence in their day to day lives. This way, the yogi experiences and holds nirvikalpa radiating and manifesting light every second. Here, one experiences unified consciousness to become one filled with divine grace. Level Four: Dharma Megha Samadhi. Also known as the cloud of virtue. This stage arises when one has lost the desire for enlightenment. This stage is not gained through personal effort. But it is a divine gift that reveals itself when actions come to nothing. This was useful when my mother began to struggle with health challenges. A force of love and compassion propelled me to take positive action. I was able to engage and educate other family members to help my mother make changes that ultimately saved her life. When we can meet our own suffering with acceptance, compassion, and understanding, we can hold space for the suffering of others, creating miracles for deeper connection, love, and transformation. Sympathetic joy is the ability to be happy for and delight in the success of others. When we have compassion, we can more easily celebrate others' joys, such as a loving marriage, successful career, job promotion, financial freedom, or vibrant health. However, when we are in a state of suffering or dissatisfaction, we or more likely to be afflicted with jealousy, anger, or aversion. We start comparing ourselves with our peers, family members, or friends, which perpetuates our feeling of unworthiness and also separates us from fully celebrating the success or fortune of people we care for or love. I have often witnessed this kind of comparing with my coaching clients, especially when promotions are granted to specific individuals that may not have the depth of the qualifications and experience my clients do. This ultimately leads to resentment toward their peers and leadership team. For example, when we run into difficulty in attaining an abstract goal, we can shift to a lower-level interpretation that allows us to focus more attention on specific concrete actions. This is demonstrated in a study (Wegner et al.

However, although some participants were asked to eat the Cheetos in the usual manner (with their hands), other participants were asked to eat the Cheetos with a pair of chopsticks (see FIGURE 5. Action Identification Theory Ever try eating Cheetos with chopsticks? Unless you're accomplished at using these utensils, chances are the difficulty you encounter will lead you to shift to a more concrete interpretation of what you're doing. For all but the most adept chopsticks users, this presents some difficulty. Participants using their hands, who were not surprisingly performing the task rather well, were more likely to agree with fairly abstract definitions of their actions (eg, eating, reducing hunger). However, participants using the chopsticks, who were having considerably more difficulty, were more likely to give concrete descriptions of their action (eg, chewing, putting food in my mouth). When our action bogs down, we shift attention toward lower levels of abstraction, focusing on more concrete actions. At this stage of samadhi, karmic bondages melt away so the yogi may will anything into being by the power of intention. The Ten Types of Samadhi All types of samadhi involve the complete absorption of the yogi in an intense state of mind concentration. The only difference between each state is the different levels of consciousness. Savitarka samadhi ( ? It is the initial stage of Dhyana (contemplation, abstract reflection) and the first form of samadhi. As the yogi or yogini practices consistently at this stage, he or she breaks through pratyaya (mind content or ideas) to reach vitarka. Nirvitarka samadhi ( ? Its roots are ? Vitarka means inquiry or reasoning. They may believe the promotion process is unfair: promoting unqualified people or using a process that is inconsistent across teams. While this may be true, we may not see the bigger picture or completely understand the reasons behind a certain decision.