Julian Kaufmann

EMPOWERING PEOPLE TO LIVE AND LOVE, FULLY

Spring Cleaning

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Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed:
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man

https://vimeo.com/157962210

Here in North Carolina, Spring is in the air and its ACC basketball tournament time.

Just like football is a harbinger of  Fall, the roundball is so for Spring – March Madness, baby.

After enduring many cold dark days and nights it is liberating to experience the freshness of new life as nature comes alive. People start to  spend more time outdoors and the world seems new because in so many ways it is.

Besides the NCAA basketball tournament, another rite of Spring is Spring Cleaning.  This is when people open up their homes to fresh air and perform a variety of maintenance activities to repair things from the passing winter and to ready the home for the coming Summer season.

In the spirit of preparing for the season I wanted to give you  a little PDF taken from the Flow 101 Course that is now underway. Please click the link below:

Cleaning the Connection

This has some helpful tips that can be used anytime to cleanup your connection with the infinite power that flows through the universe and you.

It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.
― Rainer Maria Rilke

p.s. – If you would like to learn more about this Free Course – Flow 101 please go to:

https://juliankaufmann.com/sales-page-2/

 

Namaste

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NAMASTE

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

– Matthew 5:16, KJV

The following is an excerpt from my free ebook “Why Less is More – The Science of Getting More Energy Out of Your Life”

To receive your ebook and other valuable information please join the Next Energy Revolution and become part of our network – clicking the link below:

Welcome to the Network!

 

            Namaste: From my light to yours, the divine essence in me honors and acknowledges the same in you.

The first time I encountered the word “Namaste” was when I started doing yoga nearly 15 years ago. Even after completing several yoga classes, I still did not know what the word “Namaste” meant, but I presumed it was some sort of salutation. The teacher never took the time to tell the class what it meant. and I never asked her either. My favorite class back then consisted of about an hour’s worth of Ashtanga yoga, and the class was called power yoga. I took the class because I had read that yoga was good for strengthening the body while at the same time increasing flexibility. Prior to taking yoga, I had torn my rotator cuff from trying to bench press too much, so I was ready for some type of flexibility training as I had become quite rigid, both in my thinking and in my body. When the yoga class would end, the teacher would bow and say, “Namaste,” to the class, and then we all then would reply in kind, including the bow and hands clasped in prayer. It really did not matter to me what we were saying then since I had no understanding or concept of the word itself. Rather, I just knew the feeling of peace and gratitude that followed me after taking the class, and I wanted to reciprocate back to my teacher for the gift she gave me in that class, so I replied. For you see, just prior to hearing “Namaste” from the yoga teacher as class ended, I had usually been lying on my back on the floor, totally relaxed, breathing deeply after being told to “let it all go.” Lying quietly on the floor in a darkened room with faint incense burning, accompanied by relaxing music, further deepened my feeling of bliss.

You yogis out there know this final yoga pose I am describing as savasana, corpse pose, or total relaxation pose. Corpse pose is an apt name for this pose, for when I would peer around the room during class when we were all in savasana, that is what it looked like—a bunch of dead bodies lying on the ground. While in the total relaxation pose, I often had the sensation of leaving my lifeless body, and it was very liberating. As a former jogger, I had experienced a runner’s high and understood the body’s response to prolonged exercise and releasing dopamine. But this post yoga class feeling was something else altogether. As I would lie like a corpse, still and quiet, my consciousness and my awareness seemed to resonate with a higher power, and my earthly troubles that may have been weighing me down before class seemed to dissipate after the class as I lie “dying,” or totally relaxing. While the runner’s high came on in the midst of strenuous exercise, the altered state brought on by savasana came about by doing nothing. Without physical effort, peace and contentment replaced a previous mental state of worry, striving, and planning. I began to love yoga, not as a practice per se but rather for the means to the end, and that ended with the word “Namaste.”

Yoga is derived from Sanskrit, and its root means to “yoke” or join and has been described as ancient art “based on a harmonizing system[i] of development for the body, mind, and spirit.” It has been suggested that practicing yoga can align the physical and mental, producing a state of spiritual enlightenment.[ii] Prior to starting yoga, I was a stressed-out, type-A guy. I was then and still am somewhat driven, ambitious, and an often competitive person. Like many, though, I have experienced hardships and evolved in a way that has ultimately helped me to let go. Today I am much more at peace than before, thanks to yoga and many other tools that I want to share with you. Contorting around on a yoga mat for 45 minutes and holding uncomfortable poses while trying to focus on my breath can be very challenging at times, just like life itself. But the relief from lying still and breathing was immense, physically and mentally as well. After doing yoga, a curious thing would then happen to me: after being still and resting in corpse pose, I would find that I had much more energy following the class. I would sleep better at night and wake up the following day after my class with even more energy.

How is it possible to have more energy by doing less?

As we will see, science has an answer for us. In particular, there are a couple of laws that we can apply to our own lives in order to get more energy out of our lives; in particular, the Law of Conservation of Energy and perhaps the most basic law in electricity, Ohm’s Law. After all, everything, including us, is made up of energy. So the fundamental laws that govern how we approach energy efficiency and conservation along with the basics of how a light bulb works can help illuminate (pun intended) a better way for us. As we will see, by lowering our resistance, we can increase our personal power by not wasting energy and ultimately do more of the work we were called to do.

[i]. “Definition of Yoga.” Http://yoga.org.nz/. N.p., 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2015. <http://yoga.org.nz/what-is-yoga/yoga_definition.htm>.

[ii]. “yoga.” The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2005. 19 Mar. 2015. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/yoga>.

Your Highest Potential

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It’s the most wonderful time of the year- Seasons greetings everyone. I hope that all is well with you, your family and loved ones.

The holidays and this time of year are very special to me. I enjoy the lights, the celebrations, the gatherings and the excess food, music, and giving of gifts. I also like the holidays because it is a time of reflection. During this time we slow down and have a chance to express gratitude for our blessings and share with our loved ones.

As the year draws to a close many people, including me, begin to formulate their New Year’s resolutions. After potentially excess celebrations over the holidays we may resolve to go on a diet and to maybe create a specific goal to lose 15 pounds by Valentines Day, just in time for the chocolates. We may want to save more money, spend less time on social media, volunteer more, etc.

Unfortunately despite our good intentions most people fail to keep their resolutions and according to the New York Times, 1/3rd of us can’t keep our resolutions past the end of January[i]. This might explain why the gym is so crowded in January and much less dense by March.

I recently read and highly recommend Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before – Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives.

http://www.amazon.com/Better-Than-Before-Mastering-Everyday/dp/0385348614

In her book Rubin provides a framework for determining your habit style and why the one-size fits all goal setting does not work. Instead when we employ an individualized approach that works with our framework, we are much more likely to master our habits and create the change/life we want. Please let me know what you think of the book and if it is helpful to you.

Beyond mastering habits, I think it is first import to align yourself with your higher power. By connecting with God, we can create a purposeful vision to help guide us in expressing our full potential. It is important that our goals match the divine inclinations that are unique to each of us. Once we have established the “right” path, everything that follows, flows with ease and spontaneity.

And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.

– Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist

The force that causes electricity to flow, voltage, is a relative measure of the difference in energy between two points. Accordingly Voltage is also known as electric potential difference. This difference in potential energy creates the force that causes the electrons to circulate.

By aiming our thoughts and goals to a higher level, similarly we create more energy for us to work with. So before compiling your list of resolutions first establish your connection with your highest power and observe the good works that will follow.

Wishing you peace and joy always.

[i] “Will Your Resolutions Last Until February?” Well Will Your Resolutions Last Until February Comments. New York Times, 31 Dec. 2007. Web. 29 Dec. 2015.

 

The Paramount Importance of Peace

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The Paramount Building
The Paramount Building

This is law of God by which He makes His way known to man and is paramount to all human control.

– Rufus King

While on a business trip to New York City I looked out my Times Square hotel window and saw the beautiful Paramount Building, pictured above. I have been to NYC many times and until now never was afforded the view of this marvelous building with its iconic clocks. I don’t recall ever really noticing the building before. Yet on this day there she stood, a towering example of art-deco style, now surrounded by taller, sleeker buildings.

The beautiful Paramount building serves as a vivid reminder on the evolving nature of time and how we may derive our perceived value in the universe.

Paramount, the word, can be defined as “above others in rank or authority; superior in power or jurisdiction. And at one time the Paramount building lived up to its name. The building was completed in the 1920’s and was one of the tallest buildings in Times Square and it was said that the Paramount’s clock could be seen from New Jersey. When the building’s construction was completed, the Paramount stood high above other structures and enjoyed un-paralleled vistas and likely received much admiration from those who could enjoy its splendor.

Fast-forward nearly 100-years and you see how things have changed in the Manhattan sky-scape. Today the building is ranked the 370th in terms of building height in New York[i] [ii] Much of the Paramount building is now obscured from view due to the surrounding taller buildings of the Big Apple.

My how the mighty can fall.

This rise and fall is a familiar cycle that we must come to terms with in order to find lasting peace. For the very nature of life is a series of ebbing and flowing, growth and decay, birth and then death. In the Paramount building’s case the 4-sided clocks signaled to the world the continuous, unfolding moments of time. The building stood while the world around it eventually overtook it in terms of superior height and prominence.

People are like buildings in that we may rise above others and enjoy a brief period of paramount prominence. Other times we may remain in the shadows of those taller, newer, or more expensive than we are. And sometimes we may crumble to the ground to give rise to a new construction. Perhaps we provide lessons and inspirations to others. No matter where we are, what materials we are made – we all have the same maker, the supreme Architect and master builder- God.

The Bible says that “ All people are like the grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall.” The truth of life is we all will wither and fall. And if we place our attention and derive our value from external things, like judging and comparing our prominence in the world, we join a race that has no end and one in which all eventually loose.

Our true essence is greater than what is manifest in the material world for we are timeless and infinite. While all things come and go – the power and presence of God endures, bringing the paramount promise of everlasting peace.

Enjoy the view!

Julian Kaufmann’s mission is to empower people to live and love more fully. Julian teaches how to more effectively accomplish your life’s work through energy efficiency. Please visit www.juliankaufmann.com for more information and sign up for his Prime Mover network and receive his free e-book Why Less is More – The Simple Science of Getting More Energy Out of Your Life.

© 2016 CoCo Holdings, Inc.

[i] http://skyscrapercenter.com/building/paramount-building/9879

[ii] http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/08/1926-art-deco-paramount-building-times.html

 

Am I my brother's keeper?

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Our lives have often been described as a walk, a path and even a race. These are good metaphors because during our life’s journey we experience highs and lows and many twists of fate. Unfortunately though many times in life we stumble and fall.

Like they say it is not the number of times we fall, but rather the number of times we get up that counts.

When we do fall, hopefully we are surrounded by friends and loved ones that can help us get back onto our feet in times of need. Knowing that we may be in need of help someday ourselves, we in turn are often eager to reach out a helping hand to those around us who are in need. I know I have been blessed with the love and support of my family and others in my life and in turn want to be of service to them in any way I can.

Our capacity for compassion and care for those in need is truly remarkable and has allowed our species to rise to the top of the food chain. We could not have survived without our tribes as hunter-gatherers. We are hard-wired to be social creatures and being isolated can have devastating effects to a person’s quality and duration of their life.

In times of war or natural disasters, we come together to provide assistance in whatever ways we can. After 9/11 the country was unified after the terror attacks. People flooded to ground zero to offer whatever aid they could. Donations of blood and money typically peak after these tragedies occur.

During war, we offer our support to fallen soldiers and their families. In WWII, rationing and other forms of sacrifice were made to help the troops who were on the front line. The US Navy Seals have a code in which they leave no man behind – whether alive or dead. If one Navy SEAL falls the others come to their rescue, regardless of the potential cost to those attempting to retrieve their fallen comrade.

But what do we do when a person we love and care for is battling an addiction, particularly drugs and/or alcohol. How do we help them?

According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc, (NCADD) addiction is the nation’s number one health problem, “straining the economy, the health care system, the criminal justice system and threatens job security, public safety, marital and family life.” NCADD sates that 8% of the US population over 12-years of age has used an illegal drug in the past 3-days.

A member of my family suffers with addiction and recently relapsed. Their struggle and how to love them while providing what is best for them is a cross I bear.

I’ve seen the needle and the damage done
A little part of it in everyone
But every junkie’s like a settin’ sun.
-Neil Young

The Bible teaches us to love our neighbor as our selves and to practice forgiveness. Forgiving an addict is relatively easy for me as it is understandable how chemical dependence can occur. But how do I love them, when it turns out that the way I have shown this love could in fact be enabling them? That is my love may be aiding the addiction and not the person I love. Perhaps I have become too enmeshed in my loved one’s illness and in turn have become addicted to the addict’s issues.

The metaphor of the airplane oxygen masks comes in sometimes to help folks in dealing with a family member’s crisis. “You first put on your oxygen mask and then you can help the person beside you.” But ultimately if the plane is going to crash – you don’t want to be on the plane, regardless of who is sitting by you.

Part of the challenge for us who love a person with addiction is letting go for our need to protect them. We let go and let our loved one learn from their mistakes. We can’t keep our brother from the hard lessons they must learn. But when they are ready for help we can be there.

Unfortunately the addict often crashes and burns, hitting rock bottom as they say. A potentially redeeming aspect of this fall is that when a person is flat on the back, they can focus on God and his love.

God, or Higher Power in the 12-step recovery programs, is a key aspect for recovery from substance abuse. Releasing the addiction to their Higher Power and beginning to open up to recovery liberates the addicted person.

Meanwhile the addict and all who love them can benefit from the Serenity Prayer’s opening lines, “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

Yes I am my brother’s keeper and my brother has an addiction. I trust that the same God that loves me and has guided me through struggle will be there to guide my brother through this time. I will do what I can – releasing the rest to God.

While a junkie may be like a setting sun in that we cant control their arc. We can, however, love them through the night that they may experience on their own so they may rise again tomorrow, shining more brightly. We can let go and let God take care of them, freeing us to be able lend a truly helping hand when the time is right.

Links

Drug Abuse and Addiction

http://psychcentral.com/lib/are-you-an-enabler/

http://www.al-anon.org/for-parents/item/600-i-m-putting-my-son-in-your-care

https://ncadd.org/for-the-media/alcohol-a-drug-information