"You're stuck in your head." "Stop overthinking things." "Truth must be experienced, not understood." "Book learning is not real knowledge." — etc. The mind often gets a bad rap, but like many things with some truth in them, this oftentimes is due to a misunderstanding.

Music is a special thing. It has a way of going right to the heart in a way that bypasses the conscious mind. This is a good thing as our minds can thwart our best intentions at times. Vibration is often more important than content.

Isn't that a great quote? I'd like to look at it a bit this week... First off, it actually does matter what others think. We are here to learn and to grow, so closing our minds and hearts to feedback from the world around us is not helpful. That said, the "none of my business" part is about our emotional reactions to things and not about shutting off from reality.

We live in a material world. As such, we see things as fixed forms. While this is of course true, there is quite a bit more going on than what is clear to the eye.

I wanted to share a few thoughts this week about renunciation. It’s a common phrase but tends to leave people feeling that denial is involved. That of course is somewhat unattractive, so renunciation tends to be quite unpopular! True renunciation is of the heart. It is not about denial; it is about understanding that nothing on the outside will ever truly fill the hole in our heart.

We all want to do what’s right. We all (hopefully!) accept that our own sight is limited by our past experiences and our current fears and desires – the twins that cloud judgment and intuition. I have personally made it a life-long practice to do my best to constantly ask for guidance. There are many images of Spirit, and each speaks to us individually, but the process is the same.

The world is a mixed bag. There are lovely, heartwarming, and inspiring things going on. And also dark, troubling, and somewhat frightening things going on. I am sure this is not new information for anyone. For us, however, we have a choice to make, as the situation is much like radio waves. We are bathed in signal waves all the time, so the question becomes: what station are you tuned to?

I have read a number of articles about “balance” recently, especially as things seem more chaotic than normal. Surely it is better to be balanced than imbalanced! But there is an implication in that concept that I am not sure is as helpful to us as it appears, or at least may not be addressing the more important issue.

Last week I wrote about accepting what comes on its own. But that idea can easily be misunderstood of its meaning. It absolutely does not mean becoming passive. Acceptance is an attitude and not a behavior.

Saying "Yes!" to life means embracing whatever comes our way. One of Yogananda's most advanced disciples put it this way: "What comes of its own, let it come."

lmost everyone has inner voices that are unhelpful. They say things that are false but that bring us down. These voices deplete our energy and make it almost impossible to feel the Joy of Spirit. They can leave us feeling alone and isolated. But there is good news! As powerful as they are, they have an Achilles heel, and if you learn what it is you can actually defeat them somewhat easily.

I wish each of you a very joyful and uplifted Christmas. It seemed appropriate to share some thoughts about this season (which really apply to all spiritual Holy-days, for those inclined towards different traditions).

A question that comes up from time to time is whether Spirit is impersonal (“The cosmic ground of being”) or personal. Yogananda referred to God as Divine Mother. He said the Mother is closer than the Father. But is Spirit really either?

People talk about freedom all the time. The general usage is that freedom is about being able to do what you want when you want to. But... (You knew there was a "but" coming, right?)

It is common to think of the ego as an enemy of some sort. It is true that our tendency for self-preoccupation is something that leads to unhappiness, and prevents us from feeling kinship with the world around us and the presence of Spirit in our lives.

On the other hand, a weak ego creates other problems: insecurity, negative self-talk, and fear, among them. So what are we to do? Build it up or take it down?

Yogananda talked about the different parts of the mind. Without going into the Sanskrit words and definitions, how they operate is worth a look. As is often the case, an example is the best way to show these different facets.

Life on this planet is interesting. It is perfectly designed for us. Yogananda said we are here to learn and to be entertained. The entertaining part is more fun but the learning part is actually more important.

Some people are perhaps familiar with the term “ahimsa.” It is known, in part, as Gandhi’s practice of non-violence. While strictly following the path of non-violence, he was able to dislodge the British from India and set his homeland free.

But what really is ahimsa? In Sanskrit, "a" means 'not' while “himsa” means 'injury', so it is the avoidance of doing injury to any other living being. But I’d like to go a little deeper.

The last two newsletters have been about how to deal with the recent spate of unhappy news. It seemed appropriate to go in the other direction this week. When doing yoga postures if you stretch one way, moving the other way is normally recommended. So let’s try that now...

I’m afraid the world news has not gotten a lot better since my post of last week. I wrote about hearing the news, but being less affected by it, which starts with being less affected with the minor things around us every day. Practice makes perfect, and there is actually no causality between external circumstances and how you feel. This is infinitely easier to see in the minor ways, so start there and move up the scale over time. We can become more rooted in ourselves and less buffeted by the people or circumstances around us. But there is another aspect to the news: Read less of it!