Today’s reading is very powerful and should be read slowly and contemplatively. I also recommend reading it more than once today, possibly once in the morning and once in the evening.

Humans are addicted to self-judgment. Today’s reading points out that if we judge our self as good or bad or simply mistaken, we are not empty. Just as emptiness does not believe the mind’s stories, emptiness does not judge. Emptiness is silent watchfulness, including silently watching the body-mind that seems to be ‘me.’

Focus on the idea of emptiness as silent watching. Can you be empty by silently watching everything, including what your body-mind does or doesn’t do?

The reading says:

Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.

That sentence is not an opening to judge one’s self. There is a balance that only emptiness knows how to maintain. That balance is silent watching combined with discernment and acting based on intuitive guidance. However, silent watching is the over-arching beingness. In other words, silent watching watches the body-mind discern and act based on guidance, or not.

As an example, let’s imagine that someone says something. In my forgetfulness, I get annoyed and say something from annoyance, and then I see that. Immediately, I choose to shift into silent watching—not judgment. As I become empty, a realization that an apology would be beneficial comes from intuition. Abiding in silent watching and without any expectations, I apologize. I remain in silent watching and let whatever happens happen. I am also tuned-inward to intuition for my role in the play. I play my role and silently watch the play, including my role in it, simultaneously.

The simultaneous balance maintained by emptiness is silent watching, discernment and acting based on intuition.

In my example above, I spoke from annoyance, saw that, and then shifted into silent watching without self-judgment. I can do that now, but I admit there was a time when I couldn’t do that. Back then, self-judgment fired so quickly that I couldn’t stop it from happening. At that phase in my journey, I learned to shift into silent watching (or rest-accept-trust) and watch the automatic self-judgment, as well as any emotion that was created by self-judgment. Rest-accept-trust are the training wheels that teach silent watching.

In other words, shift into silent watching or rest-accept-trust whenever you can. If you can silently watch your body-mind without judgment, do that. If self-judgment seems automatic, watch that. If there is a lot of guilt or emotion that you feel nearly compelled to believe, practice rest-accept trust. Whatever you can do to move out of full believing and toward silent watching is beneficial.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Today’s reading is about our identification with thought. It’s about how thought thinks it is what we are, and we also think thought is what we are. The reading says:

The voice that thinks it is you has convinced you that it is you also, and so you listen to this voice as if it is you.

What is the “you” that thinks it is thought?

We can answer with labels like, “I am consciousness,” “attention,” or “awareness,” but instead of doing that, let’s look.

Can you see what you are?

Can you see how you give yourself to thought as if thought is what you are when thought is not what you are?

Can you see how you can hold back from giving yourself to thought?

Can you see how you can relax into a general openness that is the empty shell instead of being concentrated on thought?

Can you see how in this moment, you actually are  general openness, even when some part of you is concentrated on thought?

Nisargadatta Maharaj once said:

I am that which knows I am.

Can you see (be aware of) that?

I recommend practicing a few minutes of awareness-watching-awareness with Self-inquiry before reading today’s reading. If you are clear on yourself when you read, the reading will be clear.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.

Yesterday’s tip ended with this statement:

As previously mentioned, we let go of a thought by realizing we don’t want it, and the best way to realize what you don’t want is to remember what you do want—your spiritual aspiration.

Today’s reading is about the importance of remembering what you want by focusing on the heart instead of on thinking.

One advantage of Gentle Healing is that we take time each day to focus on the heart through reading, contemplation and meditation. Without this daily focus, we would most likely be slaves of the head instead of servants of the heart.

It is just as Jesus taught when he walked on the shores of Galilee:

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Dependence on the mind is like building a house on sand. Dependence on the heart is like building a house on a foundation of rock.

Note: The next tip will be available tomorrow morning after 3:50am ET at this link.