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1. How to connect and relate with people at workplace and outside?
Answer: In order to connect with people, we first need to be connected with ourselves. I have heard Osho speak of three steps on the spiritual path.
1) self love
2) loving another
3) loving the whole existence
In my experience this map perfectly describes the spiritual journey. It is very helpful to have a love affair with yourself as a first step. What I am going to suggest may sound crazy, but it brings fast results in terms of learning to love yourself....
Have a date with yourself. Dress up, and as you are doing so, compliment yourself on how beautiful you are. Go for a wonderful evening out, to dinner, or dancing, or the cinema, or the theater. As you are wining and dining yourself, enjoy your sensual beauty, your witty conversation, your depth of soul communion. Then, come back home, and have a lovely cup of tea, or a night cap. Then, take yourself to bed. Undress slowly, and make passionate love to yourself, all the time, saying sweet words of love to yourself. This exercise will certainly blow your mind, and it will also put a smile on your lips, and joy in your steps. The next day at work, your colleagues will probably notice how fine you are looking and will ask you what your secret is...
Once you have mastered self love, then it will be much easier to love others, whether that be at work or in a love relationship. When you love and respect yourself, you will be able to love and respect others, and this helps in all dimensions of life. You will know you are on the right track, when you are able to listen to others fully and deeply, and are able to honor each person without expecting them to be different than they are.
2. How to be comfortable with the body and be in harmony with it?
Answer: The way to be in harmony with the body is to understand that this body is an expression of God. I remember an extremely transformative meeting I had with Osho when I was 18 years old. Usually, when I met with Him in those days, he would suggest a meditation, or ask me how my meditation practice was going. On that day however, he didn't speak, but only began caressing my skin. His touch was so conscious, and sensitive, and this awakened deep and profound emotion in me. I began crying and sobbing. He stopped for a moment, and then asked me what was arising in me. Without knowing where it came from, I said, "I hate my body!" He continued his magic caress, and said, "Love the body, Love the body, It is through the body you reach the divine." In that moment, my entire world view made a 180 degree turn around. From that day on, I entered into reverence of the body. And I discovered that what he indicated is absolutely true. The body contains all the mysteries and all the secrets of the universe. If we learn to listen to our body, we will be blessed beyond measure.
Please consider what I am saying very deeply. Religions have poisoned the way we approach the physical body. We tend to divide and cut ourselves into bits. This only makes us unhappy. We judge ourselves, thinking that the upper body is spiritual and the lower body is sinful. We condemn passion as unholy. We long for that which is beyond the body as being better. What a ridiculous state of affairs! Everyone knows that it is only when you are in the body you can attain to the state of grace we call enlightenment. And yet, we condemn this divine vessel of consciousness as if it is a curse! I have discovered one thing very clearly, God lives in each and every aspect of our body, and we will be sent back again and again to this earth until we have understood this basic lesson.
Each spiritual mystic tells us we need to learn to be in the present moment, and that it is by being in the moment we can discover eternity. What better teacher have we got for this than the physical body? The body is always in the present. The blood is flowing now. The heart is beating now. The breath is coming in and going out now. By using the body as a focus for our meditation we can easily come into resonance with the reality of the present moment. Another gift which the body can offer is that of bliss. As scientist Candice Pert says, "the human body is hard wired for bliss." By listening to our bodies, we learn to follow our bliss. You may think if we follow our bodies, this will lead to licentiousness. This will only happen if you listen to your ego-mind. The body is very balanced and wise and only asks you to do just what will help you to access a sense of well being and bliss. Following our bliss will help us to access deeply spiritual states. Just apply awareness as you listen to your body and follow your bliss. And this will keep you on the right track in life.
I include a beautiful poem from the Baul Mystics:
"All of us in different ways
Think of God beyond senses and feelings
And yet
It is only in the essence of loving
That God is found"
Mahasatvaa Ma Ananda Sarita
Phone: +44 (0) 1769 58 12 32
Website: http://www.schoolofawakening.com/Home.html
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