As part of the America Meditating~Pause for Peace campaign, Sister Jenna invites you to feel good!

I hope you've had time off from work or school this summer but what time have you taken for you? Try to take a "self-cation" before the end of...

We are always looking for different techniques for meditating, but realistically, if we stay in awareness and in a consciousness of being a peaceful soul while we are walking and moving around, then life starts to unfold a lot smoother. In order to be in love with life and the world we need to love ourselves. While we may say I love myself, truthfully, the quality of the love you have for yourself is reflected in the quality of love you have for others. If you are in your self respect you respect others. If there is something about someone you don't like, it is likely triggering you to look inside to check if you have it too. If you get angry because people act out maliciously or unjustly, then you are simply adding to the energy of anger that is present in society -- the energy you dislike most.

To help us stay "soul conscious," try living your days by a quote or a mantra. "Speak less, speak softly, speak sweetly" is one of my favorites. When we communicate with people, our words carry a vibration. Words carry the energy of the feeling behind it. For example, even if you say "sure, okay" as a response to something, if you say it with sarcasm, or anger, you will feel the difference of what the words actually convey based on the energy, or shall we say intent, behind them.

If I stay in a consciousness of communicating with people sweetly and practice being a much better listener, then I am in a consciousness that is not full of ego but is rather full of the energy of giving. When we give, we actually receive.

Treat yourself to a healthy vegetarian meal, look at someone from a distance with pure feelings and good wishes, smile a little more, especially at yourself, or just take a nice quiet stroll down the road. Sit and breathe in the goodness that is you. There is nothing wrong with you, and nothing wrong with anyone else. Everything is exactly as its supposed to be. Are you going to be happy, or are you going to be sad? Give yourself love today. It's your choice.

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The past is history, the future is a mystery. Today is a gift, that's why they call it the present!

Some people think that their thoughts and feelings are the result of something outside of them. They blame others or a situation for "making them" feel a certain way, as if the thought came from outside and got in their head. We know this isn't true. We alone create our thoughts and thoughts are triggered by our life experiences.

Our soul is made up of three faculties: the mind, which creates thoughts, our intellect, which decides, and our personality, which is a sum total of life experiences of one life time or previous lives. Far too often we find ourselves more externally driven. We are under the influence of past experience rather than current wisdom. Sometimes we tend to dwell upon the shoulda, coulda, woulda when what we really need to practice is being PRESENT. In order to do this, you can observe your thoughts while in motion and change what you wish if it's not making you feel calm and clear. Keep in mind, thoughts lead us to our destination. Where are your thoughts taking you? When we sit in the early morning for 15 to 30 minutes, we offer ourselves "respected space" -- I call it love. This love from inner silence helps me to see where I might be going off course and how I can redirect my thinking to match love and respect. In our minds, neural pathways are created. Our thoughts follow these pathways or these patterns. In order to create new thoughts or new habits we have to create new neural pathways. The best way to do this, is through meditation. Meditation allows us to slow down our thoughts enough, and offers us a sense of deep awareness so that we have the power to choose a different thought. The more you have a thought, the more it becomes you.

For example, let's say that every time you see your in-laws you begin to think angry thoughts. Those thoughts will increase if you keep having them, eventually creating a bad relationship with them and with yourself. The way that you would change that experience is to realize that negative thoughts hurt you. By choosing pure thoughts, we weaken and eventually delete the negative ones. Sit in meditation in the early morning hours. The time between 2:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. are best to really get to the core of the soul's worth and silence. What will begin to form is more self-control, clarity, personal capacity and yes, love. Keep practicing to pause during the day and observe your behavior, words, and thoughts. Begin to remind yourself, it's up to you to live your bliss. Don't lose your bliss ever thinking you wish to change someone -- rather, keep your bliss by changing yourself.

And perhaps they will strive to do the same. You see, this is how we create peace in ourselves and extend that peace out into the world. Have this consciousness as you are walking, talking and eating.

Meditation = freedom. Live your bliss now. Power is who you are.

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Have you ever wondered what this life is all about? What are we really doing with our lives? What are we supposed to be doing? What is our role?

Lets imagine that we are here, in life, or in the "drama." Since life appears so "dramatic" these days, this seems appropriate to look at life like a movie, and I am an actor in the movie playing my role. If I wanted to play my role accurately, I would find it beneficial to be close to the director wouldn't I? Who is the director? Well I suppose it is safe to say that God, the creator, is the director. Sometimes we listen to scriptures, we read about other philosophies, we practice random rituals, but who knows which script is the real one? If we want to play our parts right, then instead of guessing, we should go straight to the director.

When we are in an "awareness" that we are souls (a driver), in a body (the car) then we understand the first and most important aspect of our role: "I am a soul." An awareness of this starts to trigger the memories stored in the soul or subconscious of when this soul was closest to the director, God. Everyone has their part to play, but can we all get better at playing our parts? When we are in a movie that requires love and cooperation to keep the movie going, can't we find ways to better facilitate this through our roles so that our movie can continue with no frustrating intermissions? Ever felt stuck?

Look toward the director; you will know your lines and where to go.

Meditation helps build an awareness of what I am here to do. Life is not about "whoever has the most stuff wins!" Life is about how many I share love with and how many share love with me. It's about being kind and thoughtful. It's about remembering our happiness, meeting our life's calling and playing our part accurately. When we play our part accurately we will be happy and so will others. Awareness through meditation will help you win that Grammy. What you will come to know through experience is that you are a soul and that God and drama are on your side. Just listen and pay attention.

You were born to play your part, not someone else's. Living a life of virtues makes you a star player in the movie, so play on dear ones. Play on.

Meditate on the drector while remaining on the stage of the world.

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In our younger years, during exposure to a particular religious practice or later during our search for truth, we often got fixated on the person rather than the source of the message. We listened, but were we absorbing the wisdom with the intention of letting go of all attachments and replacing attachments with love? Have you ever asked the self: "Am I just enamored with the person delivering the message, and as a result I really am not able to imbibe the power of the message in myself?"

How do we use knowledge or a good message to enhance a forgotten feeling of purity and peace? Am I better than I was yesterday? There is a very simple thought that we can practice that will begin to trigger an innate "feeling" and "knowing" that many of us have simply forgotten. This innate feeling and knowing is our purity. I am originally pure. The soul is pure when it expresses innate truths. For instance, imagine the feeling you get when you look at a newborn baby or a 1-year-old. There is the "feeling" we get that's associated with the newness of this person on earth and the feeling of life in his or her body that is so pure and lovely. It often makes us think about how perfect and pure we were, until too many life experiences of sorrow piled up inside of the soul! But remember, our baggage and experiences were fixed to happen and there is no one to blame. It's a drama!

When we come into the remembrance of our original purity it's like learning to walk all over again. There is excitement as well as caution and a need for direction and support too. Babies fall down, they get food all over their face, and they speak gibberish, but they keep growing and learning. We, too, always possess this innocence, no matter what, if we remain open, we will always keep growing. Meditation awakens the innocence. A simple practice I use to feel soul conscious and pure is to practice seeing the self and another as a 1-year-old.

When you try this, check the feeling that you experience. Remember this is the original power of our existence. Remembering this purity creates a natural state of love, acceptance, and peace. Our vision of a person is not that of seeing their faults; rather, we can have a realization that this person is beautiful and doing their best. Viewing it this way triggers something inside of you that you have already known all along... I am good, I am perfect, and so are they! We just have to keep remembering!

So practice seeing everyone as a 1-year-old. The innocence and purity that will emerge in you will brighten your day and give you a new perspective on how you view even those who do you wrong.

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In almost all faiths, God is referred to as "light."

What I have come to understand through my studies and experiences is that if we are energetic beings, then God too is an energetic being and an ultimate and eternal source of energy: a "light." Unlike us, the supreme soul is free of the knowledge of defects. The supreme energy that is this being of light is perfect and free from vice. This energy is the same as you and I: It is perfect, pure, loving, peaceful, joyous and wise. But again, only when I realize myself as a soul and accurately understand who God is can I begin to re-ignite the feeling of the soul's original true worth and perfection from deep within.

Communing with this energy in meditation and surrounding our consciousness with the warmth of that loving experience brings the soul to a remembrance of divine love, purity of intent, and because of its deep feeling negative experiences of the past are erased. Many of us are not aware of the benefits of meditation on the Supreme Source of pure love. It is this love that replaces broken or limited love. When we increase real, pure love, we increase self worth, balance, power, and truth inside the self. When I am in that state, a natural sense of worth and authenticity returns and a deep memory that "I am love" and "I am free" emerges. The way that can translate into the world is "No one is that powerful that they could make me stop being who I am, and that is love." When you are able to connect in meditation to God silently, your higher awareness returns. So, God in meditation becomes our trigger to remember who we are... OM SHANTI.

In certain meditation practices, raising our consciousness beyond our current state reduces thoughts, especially those that are wasteful. There are different kinds of thoughts. They can be identified as: positive, necessary, waste and negative thoughts. When we meditate we aim to reduce the impact of "waste thoughts," allowing real genuine thinking to take over our mind. Negative and waste thoughts weaken our inner state of being, and positive and necessary enhance the soul's original inner power.

When we are living and operating in a particular consciousness, this can determine the value of our day. There are two degrees of consciousness: one is soul consciousness and the other is body consciousness (limited sense of self). If we are living in a body conscious awareness we become very sensitive to external stimuli-meaning. If I am always acting and reacting according to the stimuli, then I am simply allowing body consciousness to increase, which will attack my natural state of peace.

We all wish to be happy, plain and simple. So we must choose to be more self aware, but sometimes our thoughts take us away from ourselves. Here's how to make it easier. When you are in your meditation it is a good time for you to connect with your higher power. A supreme source of energy, most often referred to as God. When we connect to this Source, we are reminded of how beautiful, peaceful, and powerful we really are!

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You've heard people say "He's got bad karma," or It's just her karma." What most people don't know is what karma actually means. In English it translates to action. All of our actions since birth are recorded in the soul or "subconscious." What we can ponder on is the possibility of taking rebirth, or another word for it is reincarnation -- which means we may have lived many lifetimes. This means that there have been a lot of actions! Even if the concept of reincarnation doesn't sit well with you, consider your current lifetime and the storehouse of experiences you are carrying now. Bet you can't remember everything, can you? Imagine having to figure out karmas of many lifetimes!

If you want good fortune, then your actions should come from a place of pure and virtuous thinking. If your actions and your thoughts behind your actions come from ALGAE -- anger, lust, greed, attachment, and ego -- the result will be what you give out. It will feel never enough.

Karma is analogous to Newton's third law!

Karma effect: For every deed you do (good or bad), there is an equal result you experience.

Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

While speaking about karma, it is essential to mention karma yoga. To put it simply, karma yoga is the art of performing actions without expecting the results. Karma yoga focuses on the adherence to duty while remaining detached from the reward. Performing actions out of the goodness of our hearts will bring us good things. Sometimes, however, since we are in such need of instant gratification, we are not patient to wait for the results of our generous actions. We would rather get what we can get now, get a lot of it and make sure it is feeding the ego! What we fail to recognize at the time is that this happiness, this reward, will be temporary. Then we will go back to seeking yet another and another and another... always wanting and needing something to fill me from the inside. The reality is, I have everything. When I turn inside and begin to become self-realized, I begin to understand that my happiness is really within and that I truly create my fortune by giving! So go inside, pause for peace at least twice a day and begin to create your fortune that will last a lifetime (or many!).

Let us all try to do good and be good all the time.

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Today, June 9, 2012, the Meditation Museum officially launches its nationwide initiative entitled "America Meditating -- Pause for Peace." The goal is to light up America and invite everyone to pause for peace at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. or whenever you can during the day. The initiative aims to...

Many times people ask, "Why do you meditate with your eyes open?" Well, most of our lives are spent with our eyes open, and we've always had this myth that we are supposed to sit in a corner, silence our mind, close our eyes, and then meditate. It's not true. Open eye meditation allows the consciousness in the soul to build more focus as it maintains an inner awareness of the self's real personality.

A few days ago, I spoke with someone on the telephone in which he said, "Sister Jenna, I just haven't been able to find the time to meditate." I said, "How could that be? Aren't you walking and moving around?" You can meditate even while moving around. I had to bring to his awareness that meditation is actually an awareness. That's why when we start to practice to meditate with our eyes open, we are able to be more aware of what we are thinking and who we are. When we come to know ourselves better by listening to what our thoughts are saying we are, we are more in control of the direction we wish our lives to go. So, open eye meditation is not a new concept; it has been around for a long time. What it means is to remain alert, keep your eyes open but check what you are thinking. Check if your gravity will root in the right awareness of who you are. "Who am I?" "I am a soul!" My natural nature is love, peace and purity. If you have that awareness when you are walking or moving around, then you are meditating. Can you believe it?

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There's a saying that the eyes are the window to the soul. When you speak with someone, you actually speak to the soul. Inside of every soul are experiences of past, present, and even the future. Have you ever spoken with someone, and in looking into their eyes you were actually trying to understand at a deeper level what they really mean or are trying to convey to you? It is a story that is emerging from behind their eyes. This has happened many times for me. Where I catch myself more tuning into the "vibe" rather than the words.

So, when we choose to meditate, it is the energy, the soul, the light that is behind the eyes that chooses to meditate. Meditation is not just emptying the mind, it is letting go of wasteful and negative thoughts. For example, I am going to share with you the thought that once again, "I am a pure and peaceful soul." Now, ask yourself, do you believe it? Do you want to believe it? Do you accept it? If you allow your mind to practice to remember this as your real reality, then eventually you will wake up one day and you will always be in the awareness that "I am pure and I am peaceful." Remember, this series of meditation will emphasize on awareness and the simplest form of thought so that a natural experience can emerge. Om shanti.

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Many of us believe that meditation is difficult to do. It's not! I wish to continue to reiterate that meditation is about an "awareness." In practices like Raja Yoga Meditation, there is a focus on reminding the self that I am a peaceful soul. Allow yourself some time to feel it... In feeling it, it becomes real. By accumulating the experience of this awareness challenging situations no longer make me believe it's someone else's fault for making me feel peace-less. No one can take away my peace unless you have give them permission to do so!

We always think that our anger and reaction is reasonable; who wouldn't get mad over something obviously rude or unjust? You see, it is all about perception. You always have a choice in how you will react. A very important action that we must take in order to grow is to check ourselves. Ask yourself, am I coming from a virtue?

The real test is in the challenges. Anyone can stay peaceful in a quiet and isolated space. But can you stay peaceful when the worst situation is right up in your face? Practice your self-realization and utilize your mantra: I am a peaceful soul. In this simple meditation practice, you will change waste to power.

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I have heard many people say, " I can't meditate," " I can't clear my mind," or " I don't know what to focus on!" This is a misconception that often inhibits people from even trying meditation. The fact is that meditation is about "awareness," and you can do it even while you are walking and moving around. If that practice is incorporated when sitting to meditate, the experience is much easier to attain.

While we all have different belief systems when it comes to religion and spirituality, what most of us can agree with is that there is a life-force energy within us. This energy that keeps the body moving thinking and doing is referred to as the soul, light, chi, the spirit, atma, or subconscious. When this force leaves the body, we are considered deceased and no longer need the body. What science has taught us is that this energy cannot be destroyed, and where it goes after it leaves the body, well... that's another segment!

The energy that we speak of, that I will call soul, sits right behind the eyes, in the form of a subtle energy of light. When we meditate we turn our attention inward into this area. You will feel an energy there, it will feel like the energy that is taking in everything around you and where you also generate your output. The soul is energy, and in its natural state the soul is peace, love, truth, purity and joy. While in meditation, we focus on this point and remind ourselves that I AM A SOUL, I can connect with this feeling of peace that is me and take a moment just to enjoy this feeling. The natural awareness of peace resides in every one of us. We have simply forgotten. The distractions of everyday life and circumstances tend to pull us away from this remembrance.

Our conditioning since childhood and subsequent external stimuli has created our thought and behavior patterns. We cannot change the past or the external stimuli, so if you wish to emerge from your original joy and be more at peace, you have to choose to change YOUR thoughts. YOU create your thoughts. Positive and peaceful thoughts based on pure thinking will create these experiences. Your perception will change and everything that seems like a challenge will remind you that in responding from your real place of awareness, challenges become gifts and an opportunity to become stronger. With regular practice of turning inward, you will see and experience the truth of it all. However, we have to practice. I know we love that word... practice.

Keep asking yourself, "How does this thought serve the soul?" In this video, I offer you a very simple meditation on "Who am I?" I am a peaceful soul...

Om Shanti, Sister Jenna

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Before I began my spiritual practice with the Brahma Kumaris I was aware on an intuitive level that life wasn't all I was seeing with these two eyes. However, I was just as much a party to playing the role of being ignorant as I passed through all the stages a normal person would living in America. The pursuit of happiness through the notion that wealth, a luxury car or cars, a nice home, great relationships is what life was all about, and to be frank, I still think it is! Why would I not want those things to enjoy life? And whoever said to have them would give you sorrow? What I did come to know at a deeper level though was that my desire to pursue these toys and things was quite normal, because I had them and had them fully at some point. However, the attitude and intent in which I was acquiring them were determined by something far more mysterious and incredibly deep, beyond my mere desire for them. I came to realize my life was already written out for me, I just didn't know it.

Growing up I had a choice to see God from either an Eastern or Western perspective. I chose neither. So while living through my own eyes, I saw what I thought everyone saw, that compassion for all was natural and being a "good" person was all that mattered. In those days, I wasn't sure who God is, or was, or if God ever existed. Or was He just a figment of our imaginations? But, if He/She was real, I always felt I could experience Him more, and it would be in silence, and from that silence I would find real love.

A few years ago while diving into my spiritual practice I found myself seeking to remain authentic after coming to realize many truths that would change the world, because it taught you to change yourself. I started to "know too much." I began to lose the innocence of "spiritual life," which for me was love, patience, and a natural childlike joy and spirit. I would know what others were thinking, what someone would say even before they finished, would sense who was a danger for me and who needed real help before asking for it. I knew too much, and in that knowing I was losing the fragrance of being a child of God, being humble, being light.

Then I somehow came across a deep need to understand drama. Not a movie you pay 20 dollars to see, I mean real-life drama. What we as a human kind are all about. What's this movie saying to me, to you, and where does God come into it? Does He/She come into it? Does God have a role to play here like I do? If He did, what would He do? Wouldn't He have to come here like I do? Many questions would arise in my mind.

I've been privileged to know a great deal of yogis -- Dadi Prakashmani, former spiritual leader of the Brahma Kumaris, was my ultimate hero and friend. Dadi Janki, current spiritual leader of the Brahma Kumaris, gave me a chance that perhaps no one else would have. She opened the door for me to believe I could actually be noble, pure, and useful for society. That was huge coming from a former nightclub promoter in South Beach. So, when I came across certain crossroads of values, I would wonder why with all the wisdom that I know to be true, I can't seem to use it at the time when I needed to the most. What was compelling me to do otherwise, when everything in my being knew it was not in unison with my authentic self, with the worth of my soul? It was drama! A predestined story about myself, which even I was not aware of and could only keep moving along with curiosity to see what was going to evolve next, in and around my particular story.

I recently wrote a short handbook titled "What's it all about? DRAMA." It captures what I have realized over my many years of practicing meditation, and I came to realize that there is no one to blame for the way my life turns out, not even God. You see, we have forgotten who we are and where we have come from. I deeply believe we are here to "remember." When we meditate on a source we begin to rekindle that inner awareness of ourselves and not only remember we are peace and power but also accumulate those virtues and qualities in our souls.

This brings me to the "America Meditating -- Pause for Peace" campaign. I kept wondering how a country so rich with resources could not invest in the greatest potential of all time, and that is the human soul. So, a team of us at the Meditation Museum came up with an idea to invite individuals throughout the country to pause at 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day and remind themselves "I am a peaceful soul." To remember what is important and meaningful.

On June 9, 2012, we will launch the nationwide "America Meditating" initiative at the Meditation Museum. Events are presently being organized in Novato, Calif.; Farmington Hills, Mich.; Bel Air, Md.; and others are being planned. When we meditate, we come home.

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