Today we ask you to “raise your vibration.”

What does this mean?

All life forms continuously emit energy.  Humans, like other life forms, emit a very powerful electrical field.  This field resonates at a particular frequency.  The sound is not audible to the human ear, but there is a sound associated with the human electrical field.

“Raising the vibration” is not as simple as raising the pitch of the frequency from low to high, but is more about focusing the frequency so that the field pattern has greater coherence.

Coherence is associated with symmetry, beauty, stability, integrity, and love.

So, “raising your vibration” could also be called “increasing your coherence.”

Why is it important to raise your vibration, or increase your coherence?

Because coherent patterns are very strong.  They resonate.  They are resistant to illness, toxicity, depression, anxiety, and violent ideation.  Basically, coherent patterns are resistant to what humans experience as sickness and suffering, both physical and mental.

Therefore, raising your vibration/increasing your coherence can and will help you deal with all unpleasant situations.

We cannot overstate this.

There is no problem you face that cannot be helped by raising your vibration/increasing coherence.

So what raises your vibration and increases your coherence?

Meditation.  All forms of meditation are immensely useful in terms of countering physical and mental suffering.  Meditation always increases coherence.  It strengthens your field.

Meditation is not mysterious.  It is as simple as setting a timer for ten or fifteen or twenty minutes, sitting with the spine upright, and counting the breath.  Thoughts inevitably arise.  You observe them, and return to the breath.  Even if you only calm your mind for five seconds out of the whole ten minutes, you will have increased your coherence.

Physical exercise increases coherence, particularly when it takes place outdoors.

Yoga increases coherence.

Energy work and massage increase coherence.

Listening to many forms of music increases coherence.  Listening to beautiful, soul-stirring music is one of the best “quick fixes” available if you are experiencing mental or physical suffering.

Art increases coherence.

All forms of visual art and sculpture increase coherence.  

Poetry increases coherence.

Literature increases coherence.

Many films and television shows increase coherence.  Of course, some can decrease coherence.  You will know if they raise your vibration because they will make you feel better after viewing them — calmer, more centered.

All classic storytelling increases coherence.  Shakespeare increases coherence.

Being around animals increases coherence.

Being around young children increases coherence — so long as one moves into the playful child space, and does not impose judgments, anxieties, and neuroses upon the child.

Bathing increases coherence — especially in moving water, like the ocean, or a natural spring.

Being around a group of people engaged in joyful activity — like singing, dancing, or playing music — increases coherence.

So: if you find yourself in a space of physical or mental suffering, your first action is to raise your vibration/increase coherence.

It is good to have a “bag of tricks” at your disposal.  Like an emergency preparedness kit.  

When you feel yourself dropping into a low vibrational/incoherent state, know what to do.  Like an earthquake drill.

Practice daily meditation, so this can be a go-to part of your emergency kit.  Even five minutes a day is beneficial.

Know what music makes you feel better.

Cultivate physical exercise routines, as well as places to go outdoors that always give you a lift.

Really, in life, there is nothing more important than staying sane and healthy.  Everything else — relationships, work, family life, prosperity, and so on — follow from this.  Focusing on work while running yourself into a state of physical and mental suffering is always a losing proposition in the long term.

Know how to raise your vibration, at will.  It is one of the most intelligent, useful things you can do.

Today we ask that you choose not to listen to the Voice of Fear.

While there are countless Voices of Fear that will present themselves to you externally, there is only one Voice of Fear that counts — and that is the Voice of Fear inside your mind.

The Voice of Fear has always been with you.  It follows you around like your very own shadow, whispering in your ear.  It always has the same message.  It tells you that whatever you try to do, you will fail.  It says you have failed, you are failing now, and you will fail in the future.  It tells you it is all hopeless.  It appears when you look in the mirror.  It says “Look at that ugly, unlovable person.”

The amazing thing about the Voice of Fear is that it is always wrong, and yet you still listen to it.

Look back on your life.  Look at the things that have worked out for you.  The Voice of Fear was wrong about those things, wasn’t it?

If you really take stock, really do a proper inventory, you will begin to see that the Voice of Fear was always wrong.  And not just a few times.  Always.

If the Voice of Fear had been right, would you be sitting here where you are right now at this moment, reading these words?  Think about it.

And yet later today, tomorrow, the next day, the Voice of Fear will start its campaign again, and once again you will listen to it.

But you don’t have to listen to it.

If you are reading these words, know that you do not have to listen to the Voice of Fear.

Question the Voice.  Question it.  How does it know?  Where is its proof?  You will find that the Voice of Fear never has real proof.  It is full of opinions.  It is full of hot air.

The Voice of Fear is not your friend, even if it claims to be.  Even if it says: “I’m only trying to help!” — it is not.  Do not listen to it.

But do not fear it, either.  Rather, treat it like a crotchety old man or woman living inside your brain — full of opinions, full of doom and gloom.  Just nod your head as it tells you how horrible everything is.

Then go about your business.  Why would you listen to a crazy old person in your brain?  Just nod your head at it, remember that it’s full of hot air and nonsense — and go about your business.

Today we ask you to understand that you are yourself, and no one else.

In this world, people are always telling you who you ought to be.  It begins in childhood, with parents and teachers.  Later, it becomes friends, lovers, spouses, colleagues.  People on television and the internet tell you who you ought to be, and what you ought to be doing with your life.

And it is nice, truly, that people wish to help when they give advice.  All these people mean well.   The parents and teachers and self-help gurus.  There is no question that they mean well.

But a way of being that works for one person in all likelihood will not and cannot work for another.

That is because every human being is unique.  Everyone has a unique energy signature.

So: for one person, a certain kind of diet is appropriate and good.  But that same diet might make another person very sick.

A certain style of clothing might look good on one person, and look terrible on another.

A certain way of bringing up children might work very well for certain parents, and their children.  But that way would not work at all for another type of parent, and that parent’s child.

Some people have a knack with music, or languages.  Others do not no matter how hard they try.

What is terribly unfortunate in all of this is that very often, people will believe that they are broken or defective because another person’s way of being does not work for them.

But it is really crazy to believe that “one size fits all” — whether in regard to clothing, or ideologies.  One ideology most certainly does not, and cannot fit all.

It is difficult, because humans are social animals, and they naturally take their cues from other humans.  They cannot learn without teachers and models.

And yet there is a teacher and model that is all too often ignored — and that is the self.  The heart is a very accurate guide in terms of knowing what works for you, and what doesn’t.  You can very often tell when you are forcing something that is not an energetic match for you because it feels constricting, or heart-crushing.

You are all unique, and you are meant to be that way.  If you were supposed to all be the same, you would be ants (and even ants are not all the same).  The universe did not create you to mimic each other, but to resonate at your own individual frequency.

The best way to find your frequency is to go into silent meditation.  There, all the other clamoring voices are stilled, and you can connect with your own heart.

Today we ask that you understand that almost all of the stress you experience is created inside your mind.

Nothing out there is causing it.

For example: you may have experienced different levels of reactivity to the same events.

Sometimes the sound of a baby crying will be very stressful for you.  Other times it will not trigger anything.  Sometimes driving a car stuck in traffic will be very stressful for you.  Other times it will not trigger anything.

An event that triggers stress for one person will not trigger stress for another.

Why is this so?

Most of what you experience as “stress” occurs within the mind.

Much of it has to do with mental associations.  If your memories were wiped out, you would find life in general to be less stressful.  Think about this.  If you had no specific memories associated with crying babies, or traffic jams, or credit card bills, would you find them stressful?  There might be a very mild stressful feeling, but certainly nothing on the level that you experience normally.

This is because the crying babies, traffic jams, and credit card bills do not create the stress.  They are essentially neutral.  The stress happens as the mind processes the experience, and then links it up with negative associations.

This is a form of conditioning.  If you experience an electric shock every time you eat cherries, pretty soon you will find yourself averse to eating cherries.  Even when the shocks no longer come, the aversion will remain.

But there is good news.  The mind is incredibly plastic and fluid.  It is entirely possible to undo conditioning through conscious awareness.  In short, you can get over your aversion to cherries.  You can retrain the mind to understand that no harm will come to it eating cherries.

Similarly, you can retrain the mind not to experience stress in traffic jams or paying credit card bills.

This is not a pipe dream.  It is very doable.

All it requires is staying conscious.  You learn to notice your reactive patterns, and you do not allow them to take over.

There are many effective ways to do this.

But before such work can begin, you must first acknowledge that almost all stress is not externally triggered, but rather occurs inside the mind.

Today we ask that you embrace the mind that does not know.

Most humans are raised to believe in knowledge.  This may be the knowledge of science and philosophy, or the knowledge contained within religious texts.  All cultures have their teaching systems, and these are largely based on the acquisition of knowledge.

Knowledge has its uses, but it should not be mistaken for wisdom.

Knowledge is not wisdom.

Wisdom comes from silence.  From the inner voice.  From the heart.  That is why people speak of “insight” and “inspiration.”  These things are found only when one calms and silences the thinking, knowledge-oriented mind, and goes within.  

Most of what people consider “facts” are merely opinions.  Knowledge is variable — one man’s facts are another man’s fiction.  Even scientific knowledge, which seems very hard and fact-based, is variable.  The evolution of science requires that knowledge systems be continually overturned and questioned.  

People used to believe that the Earth was the immovable center of the universe.  They had a great deal of evidence to back them up.  Your current understanding of reality is similarly limited.

Give up knowledge.  Give up your facts and figures.  Go into the silence and space of the Mind That Does Not Know.  There lies insight and inspiration.

The first step in the path to true wisdom is admitting that you know very little.

After that, you can admit that you know nothing.

After that, you unlearn all that you have learned.

Instead of filling your mind to the brim with knowledge and information, you become more interested in creating space and emptiness.

You discover that the emptier your mind becomes, the better you feel.  You become saner.

At this point, wisdom becomes possible.

The mind that is empty of thought is filled with something else.  Something far better than thought.

Unlearn.  Unlearn.  Create space and emptiness in the mind.  Meditate.  

When there is enough emptiness — “enlightenment” occurs.  

Today we ask you to kiss your Judases.

What does this mean?

Most humans, at one time or another, feel betrayed.  It is an extremely common experience.  If you are a typical human, you probably have a long list of Judases.

In the Jesus story, Judas betrays with a kiss.  Why is this so?  Because Judas loved Jesus, and his betrayal leads not to the crucifixion, but to the resurrection.  

Judas is the direct cause of Jesus’ resurrection.  The traitor therefore is Jesus’ greatest friend.

If you look back at your own lives, you may likewise notice that your Judases were your greatest friends.

We die.  We resurrect.

Or rather, our egos die — little by little, piece by piece.  And every time our egos die, we are reborn, that much more whole.

And so our Judases truly are our greatest friends — because they cause the death of our egos.

We grow.  We change.  We learn.

And our Judases very often are our greatest teachers.  Far more so than our friends.  Certainly more so than our disciples.

That is why they betray with a kiss.

We do not say they do this consciously — that they are consciously seeking to bring about your enlightenment.

But they enlighten you nonetheless, because reality itself works through these individuals.

So today, kiss your Judases.  Recognize the impact they have had on you — for the good.

Today we ask that you understand that there is nothing more toxic than fearful thinking.

Fearful thinking is sitting around remembering or imagining fearful scenarios.

It has nothing to do with what is happening in the present moment.  Nothing in the present moment is particularly frightening.  There is no actual threat to your well-being.

But in your mind — terrible things are happening.  You are thinking about all the awful things that have happened to you, and all the awful things that are going to happen to you.

You worry.  You worry.  You worry.

You worry about your health.  You worry about your bank account.  You worry about the state of the country.  You worry about the world.  You worry about your children.  You worry about accomplishing things.  You worry that you will never be good enough.

You brood over the past.  What your parents did.  What your ex did.  What your employers did.  What the government did.  What your children did.  What your body did, that time it failed you.  

In reality, nothing bad is happening right now.

But in your mind, you may as well be at war.  Sitting in a bunker with bombs falling all around you.  That is how much stress you are creating in your body.

No wonder you can’t sleep at night.  Bombs are blasting by your ears.

Of course, they are not real.  They are thoughts.  They are nothing.

Thoughts are not real.

We will repeat this: thoughts are not real.

Just because a thought tells you or shows you something, that does not make it real or true.

They may be very convincing, the fearful thoughts.

But they are not real.  They are fantasies.  They are projections.  They are movies in your mind.  That is all they are.

Many of you are walking around in hallucinatory trances.  On bad trips — as mind-altering and frightening as if you were on a psychedelic drug.

Fearful thinking creates a hallucinatory mental state.  Humans can become quite deranged when they are in the grip of fearful thinking, and do all manner of harm to themselves and others.

When you notice you are in the grip of fearful thought patterns — STOP.  When you are worrying about the future and brooding about the past — STOP.

Take ten slow, deep breaths, counting each breath.

Get up out of your chair.  Move around.  Move your body.  Get back into your body.

Shift the energy.  Snap out of it.

Do not let the thoughts take over.  They are not real.  And they are quite harmful.

When you are reading or watching something that promotes fearful thought patterns — STOP.

The world will not end if you choose not to ingest all the latest terror-inducing news.

Fearful thinking is a choice.  And you can choose to stop at any time.

If you choose to persist in fearful thinking, perhaps it would be good to notice this habit.  Ask: what does it do for you.  Does it help you?  Or does it just create stress and tension?

Fearful thinking is not good for you.

It is one thing to react to danger as it is happening.

But imagining frightening things, or remembering past traumas — this does not serve you.

The fearful thoughts are not true.  They are not real.  And they are not your friends.

Nothing bad is happening to you right now.  

Please know this.

Today we ask that you have faith. 

“Faith” is an often misunderstood or misused word.

Many people associate faith with a kind of ignorant blindness — and indeed, the faith of a religious fundamentalist is blind, and ignorant.

So by “faith” we do not mean the faith of a religious fundamentalist, who believes without question texts and laws created by human beings.  That is not faith, but is in fact the opposite of faith — for it is predicated on rigid, unquestioning belief in books and myths.  

The pious do not have faith.  They have certainty.

True faith comes in the face of uncertainty, and uncertainty is the essence of the human condition.  Your perceptual faculties are extremely limited.  You do not know very much at all about your reality.  You know more than animals — but really not much more.  Not as much as you think you do.

Faith is the simple sense that reality is good, that the universe is good, and that life is good.

That is what faith is.

Faith can only exist where there is no certainty.  It requires that you acknowledge how very little you actually know.

Faith is accepting that you will never figure it out within your physical lifetime.

And yet deep down you connect with a good feeling that underlies and permeates all of reality.  You know that life is good, that you are supposed to be here.  You are not trying to control life and make it do what you think it should.

Faith is the opposite of control.  It is letting go of the need to control, to make things happen, to be right about everything.

Faith acknowledges that physical existence is impermanent no matter how careful one may be.  You can spend your whole lifetime striving after security.  You will still die, and will eventually be forgotten no matter how accomplished you may be.

10,000 years from now, will anyone remember you?  Will they remember all these things that you think are so terribly important?

10,000 years from now , do you think the world’s fundamentalist religions will still exist, in such a way as to be recognizable to their current practitioners?

You are a very young species — mostly still more animal than human.  You are in your unhappy adolescence, barely out of childhood, and still very childish.

And we love you in all your childishness and teenaged moods.  Oh how we love you.

But the first real step toward growing up is humility.  

Admit how little you know.  Admit that you are not in control.  You have never been in control.

Have faith.  Have faith.  Reality is good.  And we will not lead you astray.