Today I finished reading a couple of books which I highly recommend

The Alchemist - Paul Coelho and The Heart of Buddhism - Guy Claxton

Both seem to fill in the void of spirtualism that has been gradually creeping out of my life for the past 5 or 6 years.
I was brought up as Catholic, but slowly, my sense for logical explanations of things took over and gradually, I have set up my own philosophy for living. I follow one simple rule: What you give is what you get returned.

Both of these books touch on this principal: Karma. Buddhism seems to be the closest form of philosophy or lifestyle to the ideas I have been developing ever since my "uncatholicizing" process began.

I have been practising several forms of meditation for years now, and I think that Yoga is the next logical step in this path. Learning to look into myself, shedding light on my mind and following it's processes, understanding the thoughts, why they come to be and how to notice that thoughts of anxiety and stress are just so silly and unfounded. Once I realize that, there is no sense in them remaining there.

I believe this is the key to living happily and at peace with myself, the sorrounding world and everybody else in it.

After all, we are all here in the same boat, we are all ONE. Just like all the micro-organisms that make up our body, we consider them as "ME" ... as ourselves... Looking from a higher perspective, the world is also one, we are nothing but a unified system that "makes the world go round" (metaphorically speaking). The world, in turn, is also part of a system, the solar system, which is part of another system, a galaxy, which also in it's turn is part of a system: The Universe... which is most likely also part of another system.. and so on.

I noticed a really interesting phenomena on my way from work tonight. This morning, I looked outside and saw how sunny it was. So I went out in a t-shirt and a thin leather jacket. It turned out to be 4'C (and probably colder tonight). So walking home from work, I was literally freezing, shaking like a wet kitten in a tub.
I then stopped to think: "Why am I shivering here in the cold when it's inevitable that on my way home, I'm going to have to go through some cold? Shivering isn't helping in anything, it's just agravating the experience, definitely amplifying it beyond the real sensation". So I slowed down my walking pace and breathed in an out slowly, thinking of warm beaches, of waves in an ocean.... what do you know, the cold COMPLETELY went away! I did feel my hands getting numb from the cold, and was absolutely aware that it was cold, but somehow I managed to seperate the idea of cold from the idea of being unpleasant. This is pretty cool I thought, I felt I had gained a new powerful ability which I will definitely explore more of in the future. I was able to walk home in the cold for a long period of time and even went outside after I arrived home for a little stroll around the neighbourhood.

Those are my thoughts for tonight, you can comment on them by emailing me at comments@ipedro.com

Cheers,
Pedro
www.iPedro.com