Releasing the Champion Within

The breath and the mind are inextricably linked together. When we breathe deeply, the mind becomes quiet and the more focused we become. When the breath, which is the life force, is rapid, the mind becomes agitated and our thoughts begin to run wild. This is the beginning of paranoia (a mind out of control). How can there be success when the mind is in such a state?

How can we be successful? How can our employees, our friends, our families and our loved ones live from the highest place, perform at the highest level, when their mind is spinning out of control?

How do we improve our bottom line? How do we take our business, our sport, our relationships to the highest level?

The answer is that we must learn how to become focused. We must learn how to become present. We must learn how to live from the “Zone,” that place the athletes refer to where they experience a state so focused and one-pointed that they “KNOW,” with complete certainty, without “THINKING,” that their actions are steeped in perfection, that their performances will bring them a result that guarantees absolute success.

This state-The Zone-is a modern day term for the state of Meditation.

Just ask Phil Jackson, the most successful coach in NBA history, who coached three of the greatest players in NBA history: Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neil to 11 NBA championships, what was the ultimate component for his amazing success? He will tell you in his book: “Eleven Rings” that it was MEDITATION.

Michael Jordan, in his book “For the Love of the Game,” echoed those same words. He described how not winning an NBA championship had left him highly frustrated but when Phil Jackson walked into the Chicago Bulls locker room as their new coach, he handed each player a book on meditation and said: go home and read this book and I will show you how to win a championship. Jackson coached the Bulls to 6 championships after that and then did it all over again with the Los Angeles Lakers with 5 more—a total of 11 in all. He became the most successful coach in NBA history and is widely considered the greatest coach of all time. All through the power of meditation—a focused and one-pointed mind.

What is it you want for your business, your bottom line?

The great wisdom has always told us that through meditation, our greatness, our true destiny will unfold perfectly right before our eyes.

The State of Recidivism

When we are talking about recidivism we have to be careful how we point fingers at statistics when trying to find ways of dealing with the overall issue.

IN ORDER TO CHANGE SOMETHING, SOMETHING HAS TO CHANGE!!!!

We cannot continue putting released inmates back onto the street the way we always have and expect the recidivism rates to change.
We cannot continue handling the problem of recidivism without taking an unbiased, fearless and extremely clear and focused look at what is really going on. This may appear to be an overly simplistic beginning to work out a seemingly complex problem, yet this is what is ultimately necessary.

First of all, state prison inmates have generally been incarcerated for at least five years. Many have been locked up for ten, fifteen years or more. During that time, marriages, relationships, employment connections and friends have dissolved and faded away, if there were ever any there at all.

When I was released from a maximum security prison, after serving six years of an original sentence of 15 years to life, I was given $50.00 in cash, an inexpensive sport jacket and pants that didn’t fit, along with a pair of shoes, a pair of sneakers, two pairs of underwear and two pairs of sweat sox. That was it!

My wife had left me for another man, my business had collapsed, I had no home to go back to and like so many other men and women newly released from prison, I carried the label of “Felon” on my resume. What to do?

Fortunately, I had still maintained contact with a friend who let me stay in his home and even gave me a job while I transitioned back into the community. The reality is, however, that the majority of released inmates had been running the streets most of their lives, were into drugs and crime and that was all they knew. Having no money or housing when they were released, they found themselves eventually having to live in poor neighborhoods that surrounded them with drugs and crime and very little possibility of experiencing anything beyond that lifestyle. These were the neighborhoods they originally came from that initially got them busted, and here they were again, back where they started from. Nothing had changed.

WHAT IS IT THAT WE IN SOCIETY EXPECT TO HAPPEN?

Without any money and no hope for real employment, it becomes so very easy to fall back on “old ways,” the things they know how to do: deal drugs or commit crimes. It is always very easy for us to say that there are programs, support groups and opportunities that they can tap into. This, however, does not take into consideration the years of negative conditioning, disrespect, abuse and lack of self-worth deeply ingrained in their consciousness.

It is important to remember that the more prison remains an institution dealing exclusively in punishment and making it almost impossible for him/her to become fully integrated back into the world, the angrier, frightened, hopeless and insecure they will feel on their release. Many inmates feel safer in a prison, where they get fed, have some order to their lives and no responsibility to survive in a world that basically doesn’t want them.

IF YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE A FELON, THEN YOU ARE! IF YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE A FAILURE, THEN YOU WILL MANIFEST FAILURE-YOU BECOME WHAT YOU BELIEVE!
The overwhelming majority of inmates will one day be released from prison and re-enter society. Do we want an insecure, angry and frightened inmate roaming our cities, or someone feeling optimistic, supported and welcomed back with realistic possibilities for a decent life?

It may initially appear that the answer lies exclusively with the inmate but the truth is that it all lies in changing what has always been into something different—otherwise everything remains as it is and will never change!

WE ARE THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO US!!!

Letting things out is a good first step. It gives us a chance to take a deep look at what is really going on inside us. The most important part of this process is becoming aware of how these emotions and feelings make us feel inside. Ultimately, as we continue to do “self-inquiry,” we will become conscious of why we feel the way we do. This is extremely important because it gives us the ability to let go of all the negativity and pain we have CHOSEN for ourselves-whether we are even aware of doing so or not. This is no small thing; it is the beginning of feeling lighter and more free inside than we could ever imagine.

No one or no “thing” in this world is responsible for our happiness and joy or our pain and suffering. What we experience in this life is ALL created by “KARMA”—the consequences of our own actions—our words or thoughts-all of which originate in our the mind.
WE ARE THE CREATOR OF EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO US!!!

When we truly experience this as true, we will then be elevated to a whole new level of consciousness. As we come to know and realize that we are the creator of all the negativity and pain in our lives, we will also come to realize that we can also create (Choose), all the happiness, joy and Freedom we want as well. We all have that power when we look inside our very own being. It resides, always and forever, in our very own heart.

Living in a state of anger and fear is like watching a movie and being pulled into the drama. The movie will make us laugh, make us sad, make us scream in horror or feel really good. But the movie seems real to us only because of a projector. When the projector is turned off all we are left with, all we see, is a blank screen on the wall. It wasn’t real at all, it was all a projection. In the same way, our mind is a projector. We project on the world the contents of our mind and the thoughts running through it. When the mind is silent, we feel relaxed, peaceful and content. All else ceases to exist.

Quieting the mind is essential to dissolving the anger, pain and fear that we feel. Meditation is the “KEY” to unlocking the greatness within us

Russell Simmons is Taking Meditation Mainstreem

Check out the article in the April 2014 issue: www.soullifetimes.com In another article in the same issue, my dear friend Andrea Adler talks about me in her story "Getting out of the Prison of Our Minds." Meditation is the answer to freedom.

Everything is a Sale

When we see that everything is a sale and contemplate it more deeply, we begin to realize that meditation is a metaphor for building relationships through trust. It is coming from the state of meditation, from the Inner Self. The athletes call it the “Zone,” where everything happens spontaneously and perfectly. Lawyers, in closing arguments, are selling the jury; doctors who have a good bedside manner are selling their patients by allowing them to relax and trust his plan of care. Someone who listens to another person and offers advice from the heart is selling. When we relate from the meditative state, our practice of meditation brings success and happiness, without having to “try.” The issue is ALWAYS where we are coming from, not our words and actions. To be the greatest salesman, we must begin with meditation, then bring that state, from the heart, to everything and everyone. Meditation is the ultimate Sale! Love and blessings, Alan