What You Need to Know About Mediation

It seems that the truth about meditation is absolutely shrouded in mystery, based on the feedback we typically get from everyday acquaintances upon mentioning that we meditate regularly.
You would think the truth about meditation has to do with flighty cosmonauts wasting time chasing rainbows and unicorns, sitting in silence waiting for something magical to happen, like children waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
Some people even assume that people who meditate are just not very intelligent, or that they are delusional.
In reality, this is far from the truth about meditation.
In fact, our findings clearly show that people who devote themselves to the discipline of regular meditation aren’t New Age flakes or less intelligent than average.
The truth about meditation is that even with only about 15-20 minutes of it each day, you’ll experience one of the great benefits: detaching from what is commonly called “monkey mind.”
A minor example of monkey mind is when you can’t stop the same song lyrics from playing over and over in your head. More accurately, your subconscious won’t let go of those lyrics for whatever reason.
The subconscious mind is commonly underestimated. No doubt those who have attempted regular meditation have experienced the power of the subconscious mind attempting to re-gain control; it will do anything to make you avoid detaching from it (i.e., a good meditative state) such as creating an itch on your scalp, or a sudden fear that you forgot to turn off your oven.
More serious cases of monkey mind can be extremely burdensome. Surely you’ve had the unpleasant experience of your mind racing in circles, persistently worrying about something, not being able to focus, perhaps not being able to sleep, and completely lacking any peace of mind. It’s not only mentally unhealthy, but also bad for your overall physical health.
Just like a dog chasing its tail, with your mind spinning around uncontrollably, you can’t help but go along on the unsettling ride. Your fears abound and it’s impossible to focus.
Or, you may not experience acute mental bouts, but instead regular negative thinking and, or mild anxiety.
Meditation allows you to avoid those toxic episodes. The truth about meditation is that although you can’t stop your mind (particularly your subconscious mind) from thinking negative thoughts, you can detach from it.
Your higher-self (or soul, or God-self, or whatever you want to call it) patiently waits for you to meditate, to come back down to home-base to reconnect with your spirit and leave the horrors of your subconscious mind behind, at least for a while.
An aside, perhaps you believe that your mind moves too fast for meditation, that it’s only for those who think more slowly. This is yet another myth about meditation. People with very fast thinking processes benefit just as much from regular meditation as those who think more methodically. Meditation lends clarity to your thinking and increases your peace of mind.
In addition, regular meditation can also lead to increased self-understanding, greater insight about others and everyday situations, and heightened intuition.
It’s okay to have believed the falsehoods about meditation. But now that you know the truth about meditation, you should act on it.

by Scott Petullo

How to Get to Heaven

How do you get to heaven? Will you be turned away? Take this short quiz and find out.
Answer "yes" or "no" if you've ever done any of the following: cursed; eaten meat; enjoyed any of the finer things in life, such as designer clothing or expensive meals; used numerology, astrology, tarot cards, or consulted a psychic; listened to and enjoyed music other than religious music; failed to attend religious services on a regular basis; questioned your religious leader; danced in public; been intoxicated; worn clothing that revealed your legs; worn platform heels; worn clothing of the opposite sex; looked at porn; touched yourself in an impure manner; had sex for the purpose of satisfaction rather than reproduction; had sex outside of marriage; had a sexual dream about someone other than your partner; had a homosexual experience; received or fantasized about receiving, either directly or indirectly, money for sex; paid for sex, either directly or indirectly; had an open relationship; divorced.
If you have done any of the above, congratulations! You're human. None of these actions generate negative karma.
Next, consider if you've ever done any of these things: condemned others for being homosexual, bisexual, transgender, or of a different race; lied; cheated; manipulated or intentionally hurt another; stolen something.
These actions directly above, among others, create negative karma and you'll have to balance it, eventually.
How do you get to heaven? Or for that matter, what about hell? Does it really exist? In all of our past life regression and life-between-life empirical research over the last 25 years, we've never seen any evidence of hell.
However, a small percentage of people who have experienced NDEs (near death experiences) have reported they perceived a place that seemed like hell, complete with people being tortured and an evil presence.
Were those people really in hell, and did they not get the "how do you get to heaven" memo?
In our opinion, in each case we've seen or read about, it seemed to us that it was a situation where their guides and subconscious mind created an illusion that would help them to straighten out their life, their mind created a vision based on their religious programming, or it was the result of experiencing lower astral planes, sometimes due to a drug overdose or other factors. Interestingly, in many of these cases, when the person yelled out to a higher power, like God, to help them, they immediately left the place that seemed like hell.
Rather than a final destination that's reserved only for the religious elite, heaven seems to be a temporary place where all souls go after death of the body in order to review, rest, learn, and plan for the next incarnation.
As for the question, "how do you get to heaven," our findings show that, in general, if you treat others as you want to be treated, you will create positive karma and future experiences that are closer to heaven on earth.

by Scott Petullo