Author: Karen Lang

Counselor/Energy Healer Grief Mentor/Mindfulness teacher/ Author of two books.

Buddha Teachings

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

Teachings of Buddha

The following words of wisdom come from the teachings of the Buddha and those meditation masters who have followed the Buddha’s path of happiness.

May these words and practices bring you inspiration, wisdom, and delight.

Live every act fully, as if it were your last.

Love in the past is only a memory. Love in the future is a fantasy. Only here and now can we truly love.

Most of the sorrows of the earth humans cause for themselves.

Even loss and betrayal can bring us awakening.

Words have the power to destroy or heal. When words are both true and kind, they can change our world.

Every wakeful step, every mindful act is the direct path to awakening. Wherever you go, there you are.

Our own worst enemy cannot harm us as much as our unwise thoughts. No one can help us as much as our own compassionate thoughts.

The heart is like a garden. It can grow compassion or fear, resentment or love. What seeds will you plant there?

Though we often live unconsciously, “on automatic pilot”, every one of us can learn to be awake. It just takes practice.

The mind contains all possibilities.

If you can’t find the truth right where you are, where else do you think you will find it?

The final quote above is a powerful one for all of us.  We are all seeking to find inner peace and abundance but what  if I told you that right now, if you cannot feel it, if you do not stop and see how perfect your life is now, you may be seeking for the rest of your life.

It’s a challenging thought to know that in accepting everything is perfect right now, the way it is and no more, you will stop searching for the truth and realise it is already within you.

You can go all over the world to see and hear many prophets and teachers or you can go to every meditation course offered in every country and yet, in your busyness to find, you may miss discovering the treasure within.

Be still in your search.  Seek silence instead of noise and busyness.  You may be surprised what you find.

Ego Illusion

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“Make your ego porous. Will is of little importance, complaining is nothing, fame is nothing. Openness, patience, receptivity, solitude is everything.”  – Rainer Maria Rilke

Someone told me the other day, that it was important that he have some Ego in his line of work.  I disagree.  You can be successful without Ego, in fact, I think Ego gets in the way of success.

Ego is an illusion and it keeps us blinded to our true self and yet, it has great power and  influence over us.  Our Ego needs to be fed to keep alive and so, when you change the belief about who you are, you are letting go of the familiar and that creates fear.

“Not everything is about you,” Clary said furiously.
“Possibly,” Jace said, “but you do have to admit that the majority of things are.” – Cassandra Clare

The description given by Sogyal Rinpoche in The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying has a great explanation of Ego. “Two people have been living in you all of your life. One is the ego, garrulous, demanding, hysterical, calculating; the other is the hidden spiritual being, whose still voice of wisdom you have only rarely heard or attended to.” He refers to this hidden spiritual being as our wise guide”.

Practicing to live without Ego which by that I mean, living more in my heart (Without judgment or Pride, Accepting of myself and others, forgiving, and having more compassion) and less in the busyness of illusion and thought, I feel more confident as my true self emerges and less intimidated about who I should be.

Ego and Love cannot live together…….

Ego keeps us away from happiness and peace.  Sometimes misery has many things to give to you which happiness cannot.  For some, letting Ego die, can take away their entire identity, which is pretty scary when you are safe in the role as “victim” or perhaps the identity for you is being “rich” and “powerful.”  So ask yourself “Can you still love yourself if you were not your identity”?  “Do you know your true identity?

The ego dies by you accepting what you are. That you say, “I am fine as I am, where I am is good. It’s will is my will.” “When you have dropped all the tension about the future – that I should become this and I should become that – the ego evaporates.

So today, take note of how your Ego keeps you limited into discovering your true self.  Step out of the familiar and into your freedom.

“When desiring ceases, the other world opens. The other world is hidden in this world. But because your eyes are full of desire, full of the ego, you cannot see it.” – Shriniva Avanti

Detach

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be obtained only by someone who is detached. ” – Simone Weil

Sometimes we believe if we have more or learn more or do more we will be fulfilled in life.  I have come to find it is the opposite.

In Buddhism we are taught to detach from material possessions and from our ego.   Detachment does not mean living in poverty or living without, it is being able to have things in your life but to not attach them to your ego or self.

We need to understand there is a natural flow in the universe, where things come to us and leave us.  We may not get the job or house we planned to get, but losing it may be the answer to your greater dream.

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” – Steve Maraboli

Just in nature as the tree changes with each season, so do we evolve in life.  If we become too attached to certain aspects in life or resistant to change, we lose the natural flow of abundance.

Believe me, it’s much easier to be something than it is to be nothing.  Your ego will remind you of this every time you decide to detach or become still in life.

What I have learned is that when I work only with my own energy, it’s limited and it’s not long before I get stressed out and caught up in quick fixes to re-energise and yet, when I connect to universal energy, which is always available to me through meditation, shamanism and Yoga, I find it is limitless.

Practice stillness and empty your mind from conditioned thoughts about who you think you are, so you can get to know who you can become.

If your cup is already full of what you think you are, then how will the energy of the universe be able to get in? Hence, the concept of emptying oneself:  Going into Nothing.

Oneness

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

A beautiful prayer about oneness.

I AM ONE 

As above so Below.

As within, so without

As one self, so the world.

As the world, so our earth.

As our Earth, so creation

As Creation, so is Universe

As is Universe, so is Humanity

Perfect in every moment

United by love.  Open to Life.

I AM ONE.

 

Healing Sickness

by Karen Lang, posted in Uncategorized

“Your emotional state has a tremendous amount to do with sickness, health and well-being.

Everyone appreciates good health.  It’s only when pain or sickness come into our life we start to wonder “why” this is happening to us.

It is important to recognise that your body is not your enemy; it is a messenger that can help you know and understand yourself more fully.  Often illness is not the problem but our beliefs and attitudes in life and how we treat ourselves and others.

“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.”  – David Richo

When we are ill or incapacitated in someway, we should not feel we have failed or feel guilty.  If we can become aware of our body and the pain or discomfort we are feeling and  accept it, we have a far better chance of healing it, rather than if we blame life for treating us unfairly.

When your pain is deep, it will be almost impossible to surrender to it, in fact, if anything, you will want to escape the pain and that is understandable, and yet, there is no escaping the wounds of our past.

Eventually you will need to face your deep emotional pain, so as to heal your physical pain.  When you deny your emotional pain, everyone and everything around you becomes contaminated with it and your life will not flow or feel abundant to you.

“Health is the natural condition. When sickness occurs, it is a sign that Nature has gone off course because of a physical or mental imbalance. The road to health for everyone is through moderation, harmony, and a ‘sound mind in a sound body’.” – Jostein Gaarde

Your pain and sickness is a gift and lets you know that something needs to be addressed and balanced.  When you can find the emotional cause of this sickness, you can be healed on many levels.  Once you have decided to be conscious and aware of this sickness instead of escaping it, you will start to see the changes.

Next time you are sick, instead of reaching for the pills, see if you can be still in your pain.  Become aware of your thoughts during your illness and see how you speak to yourself or to others.   Accept changes in your body and allow yourself to think differently about pain and so begin to heal differently.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is to not stop questioning.” – Albert Einstein